Trapped beaver tale has a happy ending
On a weekend better known for bunnies, this beaver tale had a happy ending.
After hearing reports from customers that a beaver was trapped in a nearby Rideau Canal lock early Saturday, Deanna Whaley went to investigate.
To her dismay, Whaley, who runs Gad’s Hill Place Eating House in Merrickville, found the furry creature padding back and forth in shallow water at the bottom of the lock, trying to find a way out.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “This poor animal is languishing. He’s going back and forth but he can’t get out.”
Whaley kept checking on the animal all day. Finally, out of concern for its welfare — “I know he’s just a beaver but I feel sorry for him” — she phoned for help, calling everyone from the Ontario Provincial Police and the Smiths Falls Humane Society to the National Capital Commission, Parks Canada and the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
Ack! I’m glad she was worried about that beaver, who knows how long he might have been trapped in there without a meal? The historic Merrimack locks were designed after the Middelsex Canal opened route to Boston in 1803. From Merrimack to the canal were several waterfalls and obstructions that the locks circumvented. By 1817 the work was done and the long series of locks provided an efficient passage.
But not for beavers.
Turns out that no one wants to be bothered with a beaver rescue on a holiday weekend, and Whaley kept getting the run around when she tried to call the authorities. She finally reached a responsible soul at Rideau Canal National Historic Site’s answering service and “half an hour later, Scott Tweedie, the northern sector manager for the agency, called the Citizen and promised action”.
Tweedie delivered. Four volunteers from the Merrickville Fire Department showed up with cages, climbed down into the lock and, to everyone’s surprise, found three of the creatures. Two were soon caged, though one remained — well, cagey.
At 6:30 Sunday, Whaley called the Citizen: “Mission accomplished,” she said. “Beavers rescued.”
The article ends without telling us where those beavers were released, so I’m not ready to celebrate just yet. Still, I’m very happy that Whaley cared enough to keep calling, and that the firemen came through.
I can’t help but wonder what they were all doing together. And looking at that long series of locks I hope they weren’t dispersing and managed all that way- like a kind of watery mario brothers – only to be returned back to the start again!
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Our own beavers put on a nice show last night, with two yearlings demonstrating that beavers don’t always share.
