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Things were looking might grim for the beavers of Tom’s River in New Jersey a couple days ago. Residents had taken all they could stand of the animals blocking the outflow of the lake, which meant creeping water lines into their gardens. Trapping season doesn’t start until the day after Christmas, and we all know how hard it is to wait until Christmas. They were chomping at the bit to get rid of the animals once and for all.

Toms River’s dam dilemma

Leave it to the beavers.

Township Engineer Robert Chankalian points out a clogged drain. Beavers are wreaking havoc for residents along Lake Placid Drive and Oak Glen Road by clogging the drainage systems along the lake between the two roads. Toms River, NJ Wednesday, November 18, 2015 @dhoodhood (Photo: Doug Hood/Staff Photographer)

The industrious, brown-furred rodents have been building dams in Lake Placid here, and some residents say that flooding caused by the busy beavers threatens their yards and homes. Beavers have become a big problem in this part of Toms River — so much so that it’s already cost Toms River some $75,000 to $80,000 to put in drainage facilities to dissuade the beavers, but the efforts aren’t working, said Business Administrator Paul Shives.

“For the past three years, the width of the stream has widened four to five times,” Lake Placid Drive resident Anthony Gural said at a recent Township Council meeting. “It’s approximately seven feet from my property.”

Come on, just 75,000 to 80,000 to dissuade the beavers? They are very hard to dissuade. Is that ALL you can manage lying about? In Martinez we said beavers cost the cities hundreds of thousands, $375,000 to be exact. We even got a gullible reporter from the LA Times to repeat it. I mean its just a made up number. Why not make a big one?

Regardless of how much the oddly named Tom’s River has spent valiantly hiring backhoes or throwing keg parties to discourage the beavers, it just hasn’t worked. Awww. Lucky for them New Jersey happens to be the home of the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge. So newly minted director Veronica Van hof called her many beaver friends to the plate. This morning she announced that Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions will consult for free. And Owen Brown of Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife will pitch in if he needs a helper.

Their local Patch reports:

Beavers Vexing Toms River Resident

An animal group that operates a sanctuary was meeting informally with township officials on Monday in an attempt to convince officials not to kill the animals.

“More humane, compassionate and ethical methods of discouraging beavers from damming waterways and causing flooding exist. In the long run, these preferred methods are more successful and actually save money,” a member of the group Unexpected Wildlife Refuge, which takes particular interest in beavers.

I’d say they take a particular interest in beavers. The refuge was started by Hope Buyukmihci and her husband, with a special dedication to the animals. Here’s a favorite photo of Hope that should make her feelings fairly clear.

I would caution that the battle isn’t over yet, I mean just because the solution is offered there’s no telling if it will be accepted. And the rights of property owners versus the rights of beavers is never a fair fight. But I’m hopeful with all these good players involved there’s at least a chance for a Happy New Year.

In the mean time there was a LOVELY look at beavers on Wild Canada the other day, which I think I can share with you for a while. And before you say to yourself, beavers hrmph, who needs to see more of them, let me tell you that the beautiful documentary contains a NEVER BEFORE SEEN DISCOVERY of muskrat behavior in the beaver lodge. You will NOT believe it. The whole thing is excellent and the clip starts with great wolverine footage, which is pretty rare too. I’d watch it all the way through when you have time before it ceases to be available.

Young beaver mother & kit. Photo by Sarah Summerville Unexpected Wildlife Refuge

Our good friend Sarah sends these photos of the newest beavers in the refuge she maintains. Its a young mom who just produced her first ever kit. Sarah is the Director of the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge started by Cavit & Hope Buyukmihci shown here. Their original 85 acres has grown to 737 set aside for wildlife with trails. Visitors and school children are guided through in small groups. In 2001 Hope passed directorship to Sarah who has been lovingly maintaining the refuge since that time.

I’ll let Sarah speak for herself as her website describes what the personal value is of beavers:

Provide Human Beings with Unparalleled Opportunity for Study and Companionship

The beavers have a gift of unique intelligence, are gentle and trusting, and to watch their family life is one of human beings’ most enthralling experiences. I speak not only from personal observation, but from exchanges with others in this country and Canada who have had the privilege of living near beavers and becoming acquainted with them.

While we bemoan the high cost of education, put out money to buy flood and drought insurance, and are sometimes bored with life, the few beavers left in New Jersey are being ousted from their homes by developers or are considered a nuisance if they cut down a tree or create minor flooding. Moving of beavers creates untold hardships. Like human homesteaders, beavers choose a place they find suitable, work hard to make it livable, then resent being force to move.

Although beavers are presently protected from leghold traps in the state of New Jersey, their siblings in other states are not so lucky. Trapping is a crime which should not be allowed to continue for a moment longer in this enlightened age. Beavers mate for life. Beavers love their families, and mourn their dead. Beavers suffer agonies, both mental and physical, if caught in traps to struggle and drown. If they cannot escape by gnawing off a foot, or fail to drown, their fate is to be beaten to death.

Beavers maintain the floodplain, which protects us all. They are as much a part of waterways as the water itself. We humans are created with a sense of thirst because our bodies need water. It’s the same with other animals, but, in addition, beavers are born with a hydrological engineering ability because they need water for safety. The streams, in turn, need their care.

For centuries, beavers stood between the birthplace of the streams in the mountains and the oceans to which the water by its nature flows. Beavers managed the water all along the way, providing for themselves while contributing to the welfare of their total environment and its inhabitants. Was it only by chance that their foods grew right in the water, and along the floodplain, and that poplar, their favorite food, springs eternal from its root system? It springs anew also from beaver-cut stumps.

Over sixty years ago, Enos A. Mills, a pioneer naturalist, wrote:

I hope and half believe that before many years every brook that is born on a great watershed will, as it goes swiftly, merrily singing down the slopes toward the sea, pass through and be steadied in a poetic pond that is made and will be maintained by our patient, persistent, faithful friend the beaver.

Let’s help make Mills’ dream come true.