City of London's beavers come to Aspen

Aspen Valley News

City of London beavers. Submitted photo

It’s the winter of the beaver at Aspen Valley.
Just as we thought we’d entered our fall slowdown, managing director Howard Smith was contacted regarding the possible capture of a beaver family located in a municipal drain in the City of London, Ontario. Beavers there have been very active, creating ecosystem changes that many people are concerned about. In response to community concerns, Bonnie Bergsma, ecologist planner for the City of London, has begun to work with a sub-committee of the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee of council, to prepare a wildlife strategy for the city, with an early emphasis on developing protocols for beaver.
Traditionally, when city officials encountered what were considered to be “nuisance” beavers, they would hire someone to trap and kill them. But some of the more progressive cities, such as London, have determined that they would much prefer a non-lethal solution to beaver management. Of course, this presents a problem in some different areas. Number one – it is not easy to capture beavers and a lot of patience is involved in waiting for them to enter the humane trap set to catch them. Number two - the animals need to be taken to a spot not already occupied by other beavers (they are territorial and will battle it out). And, thirdly, it is only a matter of time before another beaver family moves into what they consider an ideal spot to dam and build dens, unless measures are taken to discourage this movement.
Putting wire cages around available trees prevents a beaver from finding a food source, and installing a special culvert prevents them from building a dam. The Fur Bearer Defenders (http://furbearerdefenders.com/) have provided drawings and assisted various Canadian cities to build these, with the help of volunteers.
When Howard was called to London to help remove a family of beavers there.
Four were captured the first night and taken to Salthaven, a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Mount Brydges, overnight, where owner Brian Salt took care of them temporarily - another example of cooperation between sanctuaries, and we thank Brian for his assistance. As the weather had turned cold, trapping had to be suspended for a couple of days.
The four captured animals were transported to Aspen Valley, where they were put into an inside enclosure for the winter.
Howard returned a couple of days later when the weather moderated, and was successful in catching another member of the family. The site is being monitored by local volunteers to see if there are any others, and on Thursday Howard planned to head back down to London to capture one more.
It will no doubt take this wild family some time to settle down and feel comfortable enough with their surroundings to go about their natural routine. They are in a large pen, with two large troughs for swimming and a big culvert where they’ve chosen to sleep during the day. They are left undisturbed, except for daily feeding and cleaning of the water tank.
In the case of the London beavers, it is too late in the season to relocate them to another area.
They simply would not have time to build a den and establish a food supply before winter sets in. And so, they are spending the winter at Aspen Valley and will go free, far from cities, in the spring.
With this latest addition to our beaver population, we may have a new winter record when it comes to over-wintering beavers at Aspen, with 13.

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(These weekly articles are contributed by staff at the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary rehabilitates orphaned and injured wildlife with a mandate to educate the public towards a better understanding of local fauna.)

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