I was saddened to read yesterday that Audrey Tourney died at 89. She was the founder of the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary located in St Rosseau in the middle of Ontario about 300 miles north of New York. She was the angel behind many orphan beaver releases not to mention bears and foxes and others. When she started her work she was told that rehabbed beaver could never be released into the wild because they had missed out on too much learning. They needed to go to a zoo. But Audrey didn’t much believe that.
And now no one does. Because of her work and what she taught us.
The wildlife and rehab and beaver world found a huge gift in Audrey and the world is a better place because she breathed in it. This Canadian short is a profound look at the work she did and how many lives – both human and wild – she changed forever.
I know yesterday was “Giving tuesday” and the soft hearted wallets are considerably lightened already but if you have anything left you should make a donation in her name to Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. They do remarkable work, and their hearts must be heavier this season.
A volunteer driver from Stittsville, Ont., has successfully chauffeured a sick beaver to its new home in Rosseau, Ont., nearly 400 kilometres west of Ottawa — a dam long road trip.
The beaver, whose plight caught the attention of many Canadians on social media, was found dehydrated, underweight and lethargic in an Ottawa-area backyard.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary tweeted an urgent plea for a driver to pick up the 11-kilogram beaver and take it to the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, which is better equipped to treat the animal.
It took only 30 minutes for Mary Herbert — a self-confessed “beaver fan” — to respond to the request.
“Where I live we have beaver ponds close by. It’s just nice when I’m out walking with my dog seeingthe beavers,” said Herbert. “When an animal needed aid I figured I could step up to the plate and do it.”
Kudos for Mary, Rideau Valley Wildlife workers and Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, for helping out this little beaver in distress. And congratulations to the CBC for recognizing this as cheerfully Canadian story. It’s a fun listen and you will enjoy it.
Mayor shakes hands with protestor at beaver rally
In case the name Stittsville sounds familiar it should, because its where artist Anita Utas was trying to save urban beavers a few years back. Remember her? She was watching over a family who lived in a housing pond. The city insisted it wasn’t a family, the father wasn’t killed, there weren’t kits, and that they wouldn’t be harmed, that they had listened to resident outcry. They then waited until a national holiday weekend in Canada to rip the beavers out and later told Anita that the mother and two kits were “RELOCATED”. Two months later they sent her footage of grown beavers that couldn’t POSSIBLY be the kits, saying they had all matured handily and not to worry about it. Remember?
Anyway, the actions of this monumental weasel was once Stittsville’s biggest claim to beaver fame. But now Mary’s heroic rescue is. Making headlines all over including the Huffington Post this morning.
Congratulations!
You were promised a good story from the ECOLOGIST yesterday, and I do not disappoint. How’s this from Oliver Tickle?
The key to reducing the risk of more floods like those in Carlisle is to realise that conventional ‘flood defence’ can never provide security against the ever more extreme weather events that global warming will bring. We must embrace natural solutions to holding back flood waters: more trees; and bring back the beavers!
Trees are important for another reason too. They are food for beavers, and beavers use them to build their dams. And beavers will do all the work of damming up the streams and gullies for us, free of charge. And that’s absolutely key to restoring landcapes and making them water retentive.
We should therefore select water-loving species that are palatable to beavers – like poplars, willows, sallows and alders – and establish them along watercourses, ditches, streams, ponds and eroded upland gullies.
There”s no doubt that beavers would make an even better job of it, and at much lower cost, so long as we provide them with the trees they need to eat and build their dams with, and give them the freedom to reproduce and spread across the uplands and valleys to recreate truly living landscapes.
The dams would not just reduce flood risk: they would also prevent the summer droughts to which the area is also prone as a result of the rapid water drainage, and restore healthy river flows throughout the year.
I, of course, couldn’t agree more. Great work! People need reminding that beavers have managed water for a long time and understand their job better than we do. England is really helping with that message.
Yesterday’s conference call had the added weight of Dr. Michael Pollock and Dr. Ellen Wohl, which made it a slightly more breathless look at the urban beaver chapter. Ellen is being asked to consider tweaking her very smart tool for evaluating risk of wood in streams versus the benefit, to include beaver dams, which was really exciting. But my favorite moment was when Pollock said that cities needed to think about Education first, then Mitigation, when encountering beaver problems. Then use Relocation before employing trapping.
Which sounded PERFECT to my beaver-lovin’ ears, but needed a little tweaking. What do you think?
So the folks on the Feather River Land Trust have learned from Brock Dolman that there are many good reasons to live with beaver, and they’re aiming to do just that by raising funds to install a flow device on the Feather River. (They mistakenly call it a beaver deceiver, when the project isn’t intended to protect a culvert, but their efforts are laudable anyway.) I wrote that Worth A Dam would help with a scholarship for materials if they contacted us through the website, so we’ll see what happens.
Ranching and farming is a fundamental part of the Feather River Region–and we are working hard to keep it that way. But sometimes land management practices, like removing beaver dams (and trapping beaver!) don’t jive with current science. Recently, the Feather River Land Trust has found itself in this predicament. A busy beaver on one of our Outdoor Education sites has built a series of dams, creating great habitat and backing up the creek. But our downstream neighbor has some thirsty cattle and a backhoe…
This leads us to our project: help us build a beaver deceiver!
Speaking of beavers with sucessful homes, this is a heart-warming story from the beaver-luvin’ Aspen Wildlife Sanctuary
At least that was the solution for a second time this year when no facility in the prairie province was equipped to house an orphaned beaver kit.
Beaver kits must spend two years being cared for, mimicking the two years they would spend with their parents in the wild, in order to survive when released.
Last year, a lonely kit was found on a Manitoba trail, umbilical cord still attached, and rescued. Eventually, through the generosity of President Air Charter, the kit was shuttled to Ontario and spent the winter at Aspen. Prez remains at Aspen, growing and thriving with another beaver kit, and will overwinter once again before returning to Manitoba for release.
Aspen is fortunate to be among few wildlife rehabilitation centres equipped to care for beaver kits for these two-year periods. Thanks to donors, we have a series of enclosed pools to accommodate a few each year. Of course, there are limits, and a more modern system of pools and pumps would allow staff and volunteers to care for a greater number of these fascinating animals, while spending less time on the daily emptying and refilling of their swimming tanks – a time-consuming task with our current system
Just remember that. It’s TWO years to rehabilitate a kit. Shorter periods are not a favor to anyone. And places that received adorable kits as orphans, and keep them alive for a few fund- raising photo shoots before sticking them in a zoo or abandoning them to their fate are NOT in my good graces.
An orphaned baby beaver who was found on a walking trail in rural Manitoba was being flown to its new home in Ontario on Wednesday. An air charter service was flying the beaver pup from Winnipeg to Peterborough, Ont., so the animal could be rehabilitated.The Aspen Valley Rehabilitation Sanctuary, which already houses seven beaver cubs, said its current residents would provide much-needed companionship for the new arrival.
Baby beaver on an airplane? Good luck little guy! I hope that when AVRS is all done taking care of him they sit that reporter down and explain that we don’t call baby beavers CUBS. Sheesh!
More killer beavers were brought to my attention by Mike Callahan. Pretty soon beaver movies are going to be their own genre.
Mother and kit: Photo Cheryl Reynolds
Our own baby beavers are doing well as you can see. It is much better when they’re not orphaned to begin with. They need family members to learn how to be a beaver, and even how to groom themselves, And if you don’t think kits are spoiled check out this photo Ron got of our little tyrant hoarding treats for himself and reminding Junior very politely to piss off.
Kit pushes yearling: Photo Ron Bruno
It looks like we don’t have a single beaver kit with conjunctivitis this year which is excellent. Although guess who came down with it after the festival? Must have been all those kids! Thank goodness I had the week off to recover. Throwing a party for 2000 people takes something out of your immune system apparently. I was comforted to find this accurate representation of my current functioning this morning.
Remember the former resident of St. Catherine’s who volunteered to take the beavers if the city wanted to get rid of them? It was Audrey Tourney, who we wrote about back in June and who founded the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. A former high school teacher, she went from teaching students about wildlife to dedicating herself full time to their care. She has a special place in her heart for beavers, and has raised hundreds of them.
Audrey’s life took an unexpected turn one afternoon in ths 60’s when someone gave her two orphaned skunks to care for.400 skunks later she has only been sprayed 8 times, which gives you a sense of her gentleness and patience. She says she likes skunks “almost as much as beavers”, which is pretty high praise in my book.
Beavers are Audrey’s favorites. Any current resident would make himself at home in your lap, and do in hers when pint-sized, feeding and nuzzling. Since they’re to return to the wild, close human contact is kept to a minimum. They’re as wonderful as Grey Owl says they are, the one who used to be a trapper and lived around Parry Sound. His cabin was loaded with them, very sociable and unstoppable. Can’t sit still for a minute unless they’re sleeping in your bed. If you’re a cottager, they could wind up gnawing your furniture. See the Aspen Valley website on how to deal with furry and feathered visitors, in a kindly way. There’s a downloadable pdf, Living with Wildlife. Animals should be respected and protected. With a little understanding, they’ll mind their own business, even bears.
Check out the website and follow the links to read about this remarkable woman, who faced life’s furry challenges and made a difference.
Audrey Tourney has died.
I know yesterday was “Giving tuesday” and the soft hearted wallets are considerably lightened already but if you have anything left you should make a donation in her name to Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. They do remarkable work, and their hearts must be heavier this season.
nteer driver from Stittsville, Ont., has successfully chauffeured a sick beaver to its new home in Rosseau, Ont., nearly 400 kilometres west of Ottawa — a dam long road trip.
s on social media, was found dehydrated, underweight and lethargic in an Ottawa-area backyard.
Build the Beaver Deceiver
