Canada: Animal Control Officer uses soap to free fat beaver stuck in a fence

CANADA -- A fat beaver stuck in a wrought-iron fence was rescued this week by a quick-thinking animal services officer.

The adult beaver, still carrying excess fat from winter hibernation, was found stuck between two fence bars around noon Tuesday on a private property in Hamilton, city spokesperson Ann Lamanes said in a release.

Officer Sarah Mombourquette used soap to free the beaver, which suffered some injuries.

After resting at the city’s animal services shelter and snacking on some vegetables, the beaver is recovering at the Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge in Jarvis, Ont., and is expected to eventually be released back into the wild.

Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge added 3 new photos.
April 25 at 7:47pm ·
Great rescue on the part of City of Hamilton Animal Services today. Officer Sarah freed this juvenile beaver from this precarious situation with the help of Dawn dish soap.

The beaver has a lot of swelling around the hips and I suspect soft tissue damage to it's spinal region. We will have it checked out by our vets from Haldimand Animal Hospital tomorrow.

I was pleasantly surprised that after the exam and administration of pain medication the beaver showed interest in the food I put out for it.

We hope for a speedy recovery so that this guy can soon rejoin his or her family. Beavers have a tight band with their family and kits stay with their parents for up to 3 years.

Soon coming to a yard or pond near you: Hobbitstee volunteers picking tree branches and water plants...

 

(The Star - April 26, 2017)

North Carolina: Possibly rabid beaver attacks paddle boarder on Beaver Lake

NORTH CAROLINA -- A beaver suspected of carrying rabies attacked a paddle boarder on Beaver Lake on Friday, inflicting multiple lacerations.

"I saw a big splash, but I didn't see what the splash was from," said Betsy Bent, 67, who has used Beaver Lake for 22 years. "It came up under my board and knocked my board over, and then it latched onto my leg and wouldn't let go. I didn't know what it was at that time. I didn't think there was any 'Jaws' in Beaver Lake."

Once Bent fell in the water, the beaver kept attacking.

"I was yelling, 'Help, I'm being bitten!'" she said. " A very nice fisherman was talking to me and motioning me to come over, and then it turned around and attacked me again and latched onto my hand. Then it came around a third time and latched onto my other hand."

Attacked: Betsy Bent

The angler helped beat the beaver off her, and brought Bent to shore. She was transported to Mission Hospital for care of multiple lacerations.

"Beavers chew on logs, so I've got some pretty good lacerations and staples and stitches," Bent said.

She also had to begin the rabies shot protocol, which requires multiple shots over several days.

The beaver was to be tested Monday for rabies, a serious viral disease often transmitted through animal bites. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes, according to the CDC's website.

The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The shots prevent the disease from progressing.

An Asheville Police Department's Animal Control officer helped the Beaver Lake warden catch the animal after the incident, which was reported at 3:24 p.m.

"On Saturday, July 9, APD Animal Services was called by the Beaver Lake Game Warden to assist in impounding a beaver," department spokeswoman Christina Hallingse said. "The beaver was impounded and transported to the Western Veterinary Diagnostic Lab for testing at the state lab in Raleigh. Further testing is scheduled for today, July 11."

Betsy Bent said the beaver knocked her board over from
underneath the water Friday at Beaver Lake (pictured)
then latched on to her leg and wouldn't let go.
Photo: Flicker/Melinda

Mike Carraway, a wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said it is unusual for beavers to attack humans.

"It’s pretty rare, but it has happened before and it has happened in North Carolina before," Carraway said. "In a situation like that, you want to treat it like it is rabies."

Bent said she Googled beaver attacks and found that the animals can be aggressive when defending their dams or young, and continued development has encroached on their territory.

Bent, who retired from Mission as director of senior services, said the series of shots is not as bad as the older routine, which involved more than a dozen shots in the abdomen. She did receive three shots the first day, has a followup shot Monday and will need shots on the seventh and 14 days after the attack.

Insurance will cover most of the cost, she said.

A frequent lake user, Bent said she's never fallen off her paddle board before this incident. She also does not want people to get a bad impression of the popular north Asheville lake.

"We've lived just up the road for 22 years," Bent said. "It's a wonderful lake. This is just a bizarre accident. We’ll be back again."

(Citizen Times - July 11, 2016)

Caledonia officer helps wayward beaver find new home

WISCONSIN -- A Caledonia police officer got a furry surprise on a call Wednesday near Johnson Park.

“It was the last thing I’d thought I’d see,” Officer Andrew Gelden said. “But there it was: a beaver in the roadway.”

Gelden was dispatched just after 3 p.m. Wednesday, when the department received a call about a beaver “hanging out” in the middle of 3 Mile Road just east of Johnson Park. A self-professed animal person, Gelden arrived on the scene, scooped up the beaver and put it in the back of his squad car.

The beaver did not appear to be injured, according to Gelden, and he quickly located a new home for the critter.

“I know they like water, and so I moved it over by a pond,” Gelden said.

Thanks Officer Andrew Gelden!

Gelden said the beaver was very calm, and after he set it down near the pond, it “just kind of sat there” looking at him for a while.

In all, Gelden said it took him five minutes to get the beaver to safety.

(Journal Times - Dec 21, 2015)

Bellevue cops pick up chicken-hungry beaver, escort it home

WASHINGTON -- A Bellevue police officer was called to the Chick-fil-A Restaurant in the 700 block of 116th Avenue NE Bellevue with reports of a beaver wandering around the parking lot.

Yep, a beaver — the animal — in a parking lot.

 

 

Somehow, according to police, the officer managed to coral the chicken-hungry critter into his patrol car and give it a ride back to its lodge.

One of our officers gave this beaver a ride back to his lodge after he wandered into the parking lot of Chick Fil A — Bellevue, WA Police Twitter

Of course, jokes were abound on Twitter following the report.

“The waffle fries are good,” one commenter said.

There’s no official word on if the beaver got some chicken to munch on. Our take, though? How else would the officer lure him into the car?

(Q13FOX - June 17, 2015)

TxDOT says it's not their problem to save animals that are dying because of them

TEXAS -- For years a pond off the Katy Freeway in the Houston area has served as a haven for beavers, snakes, turtles and fish.  But the Texas Department of Transportation has drained dry on purpose.

The area now looks like a mud pit or a graveyard of animals.   

 

"It's very cruel. They had no chance of survival. They took their chance away," Joe French, the general manager of the nearby Ron Hoover RV & Marine lot, said.

 

"It was a cool little natural spot with all kinds of wildlife. There are lots of families that come out here to spend some family time."

He says all of that changed in one day after TxDOT sent a crew to bulldoze a dam built by a family of beavers quickly draining the water and trapping the beavers, fish, snakes, alligators and other critters that have lived here for years.

 

"We didn't realize they were going to destroy the habitat," French said. "We figured they were talking about moving the creatures."

Baby beavers rescued by the RV employees

Ron Hoover employees have jumped into action, doing what they can to rescue the animals. But time is running out.

"It's sad because they're just dying. If we don't do anything, nobody else will," Lot Manager Mario Sifuentes at  Ron Hoover RV & Marine, said.

  

TxDOT says it is not the department's responsibility to save the animals.

"TxDOT built the detention pond to address proper drainage of the I-10 facility. It was not intended to hold water. Safety is our highest priority and making sure the pond drains properly is key," TxDOT said in a written statement.

The agency says it will be diligent about cleaning up the dead fish that employees at Ron Hoover say are already starting to rot.

[So TxDOT won't come and save the fish while they're alive, but once they've suffocated to death then TxDOT will respond to remove their bodies. Your government at work, people!]

 

 

A local wildlife rescue group said it does not have the manpower to come rescue the animals but will check the situation.

(KEYE - Sept 6, 2013)

Why did the beavers cross the road? The Norman flooding

OKLAHOMA -- The Sooner State has seen quite a bit of rain over the last few days.

It is probably what made it so easy for these guys to take a wrong turn or two.

Cheri Noland sent us this picture of beavers crossing the road in Norman at the Classen Urgent Care Clinic.

(KFOR - July 26, 2013)

Doing my part to assist Alaska's beaver population

ALASKA -- There are two times during the year when beaver come to my attention -- early spring and late fall. Spring is the time when they are the most vulnerable to predators and in the fall they are susceptible to the inconsistencies of nature.

Last spring, while driving between Paxson and Maclaren on the Denali Highway, we came upon a medium-size beaver in the middle of the road near the top of the Maclaren Summit. The snow berms were at least four feet high on the sides of the road and there was no water for miles. What in the world was a beaver doing way up there?

Spring is the time of year when young beaver, usually 2-year-olds, leave the family house to make their way in the world. Beaver lodges are home to the family group. In the Interior of Alaska, this group usually consists of six to eight individuals. There are the breeding adults, their young from the previous year and the new young. The spring kits are born in early May after a gestation period of about three and a half months. The house gets crowded with the new additions, so off go the teenagers to make their own way in the world.

The beaver we met on the Maclaren Summit was a wandering juvenile, looking for water. We knew his chances of survival were poor. Every large predator eats them --wolves, wolverine, lynx and bear. Even a medium size fox can handle a young beaver.

There was only one thing to do if he was to have a chance at survival -- take him to water. I threw my coat over him and he obligingly put his head in a sleeve. With him thus immobilized, I zipped the coat, picked him up and put him in the Subaru. That seemed like a good way to transport him down to the Maclaren River and safety.

Soon he was loose in the front seat alongside me, snapping his teeth. Since they cut down big trees with those things, I hit the brakes and left the car to him. After numerous failed attempts, I managed to block him in the back seat and haul him down the mountain to the river. When I opened the car door, he hopped out, still snapping ungratefully, and slipped into the water off to destinations unknown. That beaver survived to live another day.

However, I'm sure that spring mortality is high among these young travelers. Beaver can live to 20 in captivity and to 12 or so in the wild. The average age in the woods is likely closer to 5 or 6.

Safety for a beaver lies in their home pond. Water is their friend. They can stay submerged for 15 minutes. Their house entrance is underwater and the house itself is impenetrable. Or so it seems.
The very water that is the beavers' first defense is also their greatest enemy. The floods of this past week have likely doomed more beaver than all of the summer predation combined.

Not all beaver live in ponds behind their dams or in lakes. Many of them live along river systems. These beaver dig their house chambers in the bank and build no house. The winter food cache is anchored along the river bank just below the house. The flooding of the past week has washed away the feed piles and in many places the high water has washed out the bank dens.

It is unlikely that very many of these populations will have the time to rebuild their food supplies before freeze-up. The specter of spring starvation for these animals is very real. Some will come out from under the ice early, long before the spring break-up, searching for food. They are extremely vulnerable predation in the snow and many will not survive.

Trapping can help. Conscientious beaver trappers can take a couple of animals from each house, leaving more food for those that are left. The colony then has a much better chance at survival.
Beaver have long been one of the most important fur sources in North America. Indeed, much of the early colonization of the northwestern U.S. was due to the popularity of beaver hats and the subsequent trapping efforts.

We are told the beaver were wiped out in much of the northwest by the mountain men. However, if we really take a look at facts and figures, that premise is open to conjecture. During the beaver trapping heyday, fewer than a quarter of the pelts taken each season were exported. Since the 1950s the number has regularly been 2 1/2 times that number. The beaver population in North America presently tops 12 million!

Even though the beaver population is stable or increasing, it still disturbs me to see these likable rodents come to traumatic harm. I will continue to do my tiny part to ease the transition a few animals through the seasons, realizing, of course, that in the scheme of nature, the only benefit will be to my personal satisfaction.

(Alaska Dispatch News - September 26, 2012)

Oklahoma: Man beats beaver to death with a crowbar after it simply defended itself after being provoked by boy

OKLAHOMA -- Police say a 5-year-old Durant boy suffered injuries to a leg when a 60-pound beaver attacked the youngster, who weighs about 40 pounds.

Durant police Lt. Carrie Wyrick said the boy’s father killed the beaver with a crowbar or lug wrench, and its head has been sent to authorities in Oklahoma City to test it for rabies.

The boy was treated for his injuries at a local hospital and then released, Wyrick said. Wyrick declined to name the child, citing department policy for juveniles.

The family lives in a new apartment complex in a heavily wooded area with a stream nearby, according to Wyrick. She said the boy was attacked after he and a sibling went outside to retrieve the family cat and the boy tried to pet the beaver.

According to Wyrick, 60 pounds is an average weight for a beaver in southeastern Oklahoma, with some of them weighing as much as 90 pounds.

Hmm, maybe you shouldn't let 5 year old children wander into the woods by themselves. And maybe you should teach them not to molest wildlife. 

(Edmond Sun - Dec 22, 2009)