Wildlife // Living in Harmony With Wildlife
Living in Harmony With Beavers
From the colonization of North America to the early 20th century, beavers were hunted and trapped nearly to extinction for their thick, waterproof fur, which was used in clothing and as standard currency. Land clearing for human settlements further disrupted beaver populations.
Did You Know?
- The beaver's flat tail stores fat in the winter, is used as a powerful rudder in the water, and warns other beavers of danger when it is slapped on the surface of the water.
- Beavers can keep their mouths open underwater to carry a branch or other object because of a skin flap behind their teeth that keeps them from swallowing water.
- Beavers are curious about visitors to their streams and ponds and sit on their dams and lodges or by the water's edge to watch what is happening. Some even enjoy flute music.
- Some Native Americans call beavers "Little Wise People," perhaps because of their close-knit families and their homes' resemblance to teepees and wigwams.
- Baby beavers, or kits, are usually born in litters of three or four to parents who have been together for many years. Beavers are born furry and begin swimming the same day, aided by strong legs and webbed hind feet.
- Older siblings often help "babysit" the new litter, and parents and siblings will scold any youngster who strays too far from the lodge. Beavers leave their birth lodge at age 2 to find mates and build their own homes.
Solving Conflicts Compassionately
Humane approaches to beaver control are cheaper and more effective than lethal methods. Body-gripping traps used to kill beavers cause them immeasurable suffering. In many cases, the traps fail to kill beavers immediately, causing them to die slowly—they may suffer for up to 20 minutes before drowning.
The most common problems that people have with beavers are floods caused by their damming activity and trees killed or felled for food or building material. It might be tempting to remove beavers from an area, but getting rid of a family of beavers will only create a vacancy that will inevitably be filled by other beavers.
Beaver SolutionsFor Waterways: The most efficient way to prevent beavers from building around areas such as road culverts or drainage ditches is to use devices like the Beaver Deceiver™, a box- or trapezoid-shaped fence that allows water to flow freely and keeps beavers away from the area. Beavers are stimulated to build dams by the sight, sound, and feeling of flowing water, but "deceiver" devices keep their structures far enough from the source of the flow that human drainage needs can be met and the beavers' homes can survive.
Other products, called beaver "pond levelers," disperse water flow near dams or lodges so that beavers aren't compelled to further plug up the area. Pond levelers have many different designs, depending on where they will be placed, such as through, under, or over a beaver-built structure. Levelers can be made of plastic, metal, or wooden piping or troughs.
For Trees: Trees within 100 feet of beaver-inhabited waterways can be guarded with galvanized, welded wire or chicken-wire "cages" to a height of 4 feet to prevent beavers from chewing on them. It's important to leave a 6- to 12-inch space between the wire cage and the tree trunk because beavers may gnaw between the wires. The wire cage or wrap may need to be replaced or expanded periodically as the tree grows.
Corrugated plastic drain piping can be used to protect seedlings. Groves of trees can be protected with a simple wire fence—beavers are not good climbers, and they will not be able to scale a 3- or 4-foot fence. Trees can also be treated with a bitter-tasting, commercial repellent called Ropel or a mixture of masonry sand and exterior paint to prevent beavers from gnawing on them. For the sand/paint mixture, choose an exterior latex paint color that matches the color of the tree's bark and add 30 or 70 milligrams of mason sand. The mixture should be prepared the day it will be applied using a working formula of 8 ounces of sand to 1 quart of paint and applied to the bottom 3 1/2 feet of the tree trunk.
What to Do if You Find Injured or Orphaned Beavers
If you find an orphaned or injured beaver, do not disturb the animal. It is important that you never try to capture a beaver on your own: Beavers' furry faces and inquisitive eyes may look friendly, but they will not hesitate to use their teeth or claws to protect themselves if they feel threatened. Contact a local wildlife rehabilitator or your local humane society immediately for advice.
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