Rogue beavers damaging trees, property on Lake Springfield
Goodness Gracious! ROGUE Beavers? You mean beavers doing something atypical to their species and threatening our very existence? What are they doing? Robbing grocery stores or threatening old women at ATM’s? Carjacking? How terrifying! What an awful threat! Thank goodness the paper was here to tell us about it. Let’s read more.
Beavers have taken up residence under boat docks and damaged or killed trees and shrubs along the shoreline.
Um, that’s it? Where’s the “Rogue” part? I mean don’t beavers normally take trees? Isn’t that like the bottom of the pyramid chart on their four food groups? I’ll keep reading. Maybe the Rogue knocking-over-convenience-stores part is down further in the article.
Mike Castleman knows firsthand. He lost a large shrub and two mature trees in a matter of days. The beavers stripped the bark from his trees to a height of about 3 feet off the ground.
“From what I understand, these trees are dead. This guy killed them,” Castleman said. “I got some pruning spray to seal them and chicken wire to protect them, but everyone who sees them says they are going to die.”
The beavers also reduced a 20-foot-high bush in his yard to a bundle of pointed sticks.
Pointed sticks! That can’t be good. Weapons maybe? Crude hand to hand tools for their eventual world domination? Or planning ahead for a great deal of vampire slaying? Either way, it’s never a good thing when your enemy starts the battle with a bit pile of sharpened sticks. Remember Lord of the Flies? Gasp. Were they sharpened at both ends?
This so rarely happens. Unless, of course, your enemy is a beaver.
Well I’m sure you know about that. I’m sure you studied what beavers TYPICALLY do before you made an effort to describe these particular beavers behavior as ROGUE.
Yep. Looks pretty typical to me, except the paper describes these trees as Shingle Oaks which aren’t beaver favorites by any means. I can only assume this means your lake has a dismal riparian border, no willow or aspen and hardly any vegetation to speak of. No wonder you’re so worried about the trees.
Well, the paper says some residents are wrapping trees and some are talking about trapping. Any other solutions on the table?
Removing beavers is only a temporary solution, according to “Missouri’s Beaver, a Guide to Management, Nuisance Prevention and Damage Control,” published by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
“Once a colony of beaver establishes its territory in a pond, lake or stream, it is virtually impossible to make it move somewhere else through the use of nonlethal techniques,” the manual says. “It is sometimes possible to enjoy beavers in the area while still preserving property.”
Virtually impossible! Better tell all those crazy beaver relocators that they are wasting their time! The sad thing is that Missouri PROBABLY gleaned this little “factoid” from the fact that when you move beavers out new ones move in. Which, by the way is what happens when you kill them too. Better to bear the beavers you have than fly to other’s you know not of.
In case you want a solution besides wire and tar and traps, read here about sand painting the trunk. You’ll be surprised how it helps tame “Rogue” beavers. Oh and get together with your neighbors and plant some willow so that the trees can coppice and regrow. Your bird population will thank you for it.
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