Wellesley on Alert as Beavers Return to Town
Guess which famous college town killed beavers in January of this year (after appearing to consider a flow device from Beaver Solutions) and needs to kill some MORE beavers now? That’s right, it houses the Alma Mater of Hilary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Diane Sawyer. Earlier this year they said that no ponding whatsoever could be tolerated and had the beavers trapped and killed. Now, because they got rid of the old beavers, they’re worried that some new ones moved in.
It looks like Wellesley’s beavers are back, and town officials have their fingers crossed that the animals are not planning to stay. “We’re holding our breath that hopefully, we don’t have a new family moving in,” said Janet Bowser, Director of the town’s Natural Resources Commission.
Last year, she said, beavers built two dams in Fuller Brook, bordering Needham and the town’s Recycling and Disposal Facility. Their dams caused flooding, and the town had to have the beavers trapped and euthanized. It was the first time in the 15 years she has worked for the town, said Bowser, that beavers have caused problems – and officials were hoping that it was a one-time issue.
But Wellesley is a pretty nice town, so who can blame the beavers, really?
I don’t think its a nice town. I think it’s an infuriating town. I think that in the entire city there isn’t a janitor with an IQ less than 115 and they STILL won’t listen to reason. I think they know as much about beavers and ecology and problem solving as Winston Churchill knew about doilies. Just look at the quote from the head of their Natural Resources Commission.
Right now, said Bowser, the town is just keeping an eye out.“Once you have them in an area, they do come back to mate,” she said.
Come back to mate? Like Buffalo? Or Tule Elk? Apparently the head of the Conservation Commission in Wellesly thinks that beavers are herd animals. I would be more patient with her misinformation if I hadn’t personally written to Pamela 11 months ago and explained everything she needed to know. I could probably be more understanding if she hadn’t told the paper back then that she had never seen beaver problems in 14 years, (when a cursory google search showed that they were happening all around her).
Never mind. Just because the town is surrounded by great minds and peopled by professors and houses a prestigious ecology department, it doesn’t mean they have a clue. In the words of Dorothy Parker, “you can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”
