Blog :: Owen Sound Animal Shelter

Killing Beaver in Harrison Park
A message came to me late in the afternoon and an article was sent via email.

I read the article where: A trap was set to kill beaver at Harrison Park has raised concerns about danger to pets, but the city’s parks superintendent says such trapping is the only way to protect trees in the park and elsewhere along the river. Further, it reads that the trap was out of the water earlier this week, but was in the water Wednesday. A beaver was caught and killed in it that day. The trap was set by a licensed trapper under contract with the city. He said it is a Conibear trap, meant to close on the neck or body of an animal and kill it quickly. AND it says ...They call it a live trap, but in a beaver’s case they usually drown,” he said.

I am disgusted and insulted that they didn't contact me, and down right ashamed of ourselves (City employee). As a city employee, I would have hoped that somehow someone would have come to us with the park's concern. They call us when they have trouble with raccoons, skunks, or stray cats but why not the beaver? I do not agree with the killing of these animals by using any method, and perhaps this is why they did not ask. These traps are not humane, and no animal should be crushed to death, or drown. I am shocked. I do know beavers mate for life and they parent their offspring for two years. I cannot help but feel bad for the mate or the young ones now doing without. Is it wrong for me to feel pity on a "nuisance animal" - I think not.

Beavers create habitat for turtles, fish, and water fowl to live. They eat trees granted, so why not relocate them! A lazy solution is to kill them (likely I am in trouble for saying it) and it is a complete waste.

I hope to be involved as of tomorrow and if I need to catch'em with my bear hands and relocate them myself - I just might!

And on a happier note ... the Falcon has been located ... let's hope for a retrieval of him soon too!

City trapping beaver at Harrison Park

Resident concerned about safety of pets

The Sun Times (Owen Sound)
Posted By Doug Edgar
February 6, 2008

A trap set to kill beaver at Harrison Park has raised concerns about danger to pets, but the city’s parks superintendent says such trapping is the only way to protect trees in the park and elsewhere along the river.

Wayne Ricketts, who lives about a block from the park, called The Sun Times Wednesday with concerns about the trap, which was set at the river near a small field close to the main park entrance. He said it was out of the water earlier this week, but was in the water Wednesday. A beaver was caught and killed in it that day. The trap was set near a willow tree that beaver had cut down and the site was marked with warning tape and a sign.

“I don’t think it’s right,” Ricketts said. “I could see if they were live-trapping, but they’re not — it’s a neck-hold trap, I guess.”

The trap was set by a licensed trapper under contract with the city, said parks superintendent John Howard. He said it is a Conibear trap, meant to close on the neck or body of an animal and kill it quickly.

Ricketts was concerned other animals, especially pets, could get caught. “I walk my dog in the park every day,” he said. “I know you’re supposed to keep them on a leash, but a lot of people let them run in that big field there.” He also questioned whether such trapping should be done in the city and suggested the beaver could be trapped alive and moved.

Howard said the city wraps smaller trees with wire mesh to protect them from beaver, but in this case larger trees, including maple and ash, were also being taken. “Unfortunately the only thing we can do, because of the size of the trees being taken, is have a trapper come in,” he said. The city usually tries to relocate nuisance animals, but beaver will often either die or seriously harm themselves when trapped in a cage. “They call it a live trap, but in a beaver’s case they usually drown,” he said.

The city tries to use preventative measures whenever possible to control animals, but the number of trees along the river and in large natural areas nearby makes tree-wrapping impractical, Howard said “You’ve got literally thousands of trees that you would have to wrap with wire mesh.” The trap’s location was picked because the beaver had dropped a willow there and was coming back to feed on it, Howard said. Traps are placed in areas where there shouldn’t be many people or pets around and must be marked clearly.

Howard said he worked for 12 years in Toronto, where they also have trouble with beaver cutting down trees, before coming to Owen Sound two years ago. He’s never seen a pet caught in a trap set for beaver in that time.

Two beaver were also caught before Christmas despite some of traps being sprung by people. A trap was also stolen last year, Howard said. Beaver are not a new problem for the city, Howard noted.

About a year ago some had a den near the abutments of the 8th Street Bridge and were damaging trees behind the Y. Over the years they have taken memorial trees off the island at Harrison Park, chewed off shrubs and small trees that were planted to stabilize the riverbank near the cenotaph and took down a nearby memorial tree. The city also had to take down two trees near 9th Street using a crane after beavers gnawed part way through them and put a nearby building in danger. “In a good wind that would have snapped off and landed on the building,” he said.

A woman’s dog was killed in Kincardine in early January after getting caught in a similar body-gripping type of trap, but the trap in that case was on land.

City trapping beaver at Harrison Park

Resident concerned about safety of pets

The Sun Times (Owen Sound) Posted By Doug Edgar February 6, 2008

The Sun Times (Owen Sound)
Posted By Doug Edgar
February 6, 2008