Tag: Patch

Apparently, dog training obstacle courses don’t work very well for excluding beavers (who knew?), and the animals unsurprisingly cease being cute the  very moment  they begin to cause problems for  humans. At least that’s what Bill Bittar says in his new article at  Monroe Patch.

Bob and Missy Shawinsky lived and worked in Stamford where he is a police sergeant and she is a teacher, before buying their Huntingtown Road colonial on Gusky Pond in Monroe last February.  “It’s beautiful here,” Missy said Saturday morning. “It sure is country. You can see a sign for lamas on the street and we have well water.”

A far cry from the city, the Shawinskys commonly see wildlife in their neighborhood’s natural surroundings, ducks swimming on the pond, birds soaring overhead … and the couple has also had their first encounter with beavers.

“I saw them building lodges and I thought, ‘Oh, how cute,'” Missy said of her first beaver sighting. “Well, it’s not so cute anymore.”

Gosh that is so rare. It almost never happens. A mild-mannered couple move from the city to the country to enjoy nature and appreciate the outdoors and then suddenly discover, without any warning at all, that wildlife can be inconvenient. Those creatures that live in the ponds where you bought your home can challenge human structures, with  no concern for you as they maintain their family’s need for food and shelter, and ultimately damage property. Reasonable people  understandably want it controlled, so that things work more like they used — back in the city —which they left.

(Come to think of it, this is very common. It  happens all the time. It’s not even a “dog bites man” story. It’s more like  a “dog scratches” story.)

The author writes that several exclusion devices are dutifully employed around Gusky pond and then says  “Public Works uses a backhoe to lift some heavier exclusion devices and shake debris out periodically.” Oh, you mean failed exclusion devices are employed! The kind that don’t work and contribute to the important DEP statistics that say flow devices are useless? No wonder the town’s up in arms over beavers. Never mind that Connecticut is the only state in the country where the Humane Society maintains its own beaver management expert to control beaver problems (ex-trapper Skip Hilliker), or that Monroe is two hours away from Beaver Solutions’ Mike Callahan, or a mere 5 hour drive for Beaver expert Skip Lisle. Why use proven techniques when backhoes are so much fun to operate?

The article does contain one bright spot, an animal Control Officer who knows his stuff;

Monroe Animal Control Officer Ed Risko said the McGunnigles’ well is now underwater from the flooding.  The McGunnigles and the Shawinskys are concerned about Giardiasis, an intestinal infection that can be transmitted from beaver to human when feces in flooded water gets into wells.  “People claim that, but I haven’t seen that in 20 years,” Risko said of people being infected by beavers.  The animal control officer does periodic tests at Gusky Pond and said the test he performed about two months ago did not detect Giardiasis.

Good work Ed, I would add that beaver stools look like sawdust and are less likely to carry giardia that just about any mammal who stops by to defecate in your water, and if they DO happen to contain giardia it’s because they caught it in your water most likely from a human septic problem and I’d be inclined to worry about that anyway.

There used to be limits on beavers, but the population has grown so much that Risko said there are now no limits, according to Connecticut trapping regulations. The state used to allow beavers to be relocated rather than killed, but Risko said relocations are no longer allowed. Beavers are territorial and there are no longer as many places to move them, according to the DEP.  “I think there were 24 and they got eight out,” Bob McGunnigle said of beavers in his neighborhood Saturday.

You think there were three families and they trapped one? 33% success rate, not bad. I’m curious, what makes you think there were 24 beavers? You saw three lodges? Three dams? How exactly did DEP come up with 24? Never mind. This is my favorite par part of the article;

Lilipad roots at Gusky Pond. Beavers dig up these roots and use them to sharpen their teeth. Credit: Bill Bittar

Ahh the weapon-wielding fiends! Grimly impressive imagery. But false. Not to sharpen their teeth, Bill. (Trees do that). The monsters dig up roots for them and their children to EAT. They chew lily roots because in the frozen winter they selfishly get hungry and even when they don’t have access to the banks to damage property owners trees, they can eat roots. I believe there’s an entire book about this. You might enjoy it.

In the meantime, you get a letter, and Ed gets a mostly attaboy letter. I’ll write Hilliker that his services might be needed and you are both welcome to pass them along my correspondence to the McGunnigles if you think they’d be interested.