Thu, Mar. 29, 2007
Bull’s-eye on beavers
Dams causing damage, so rodents will be killed
By GINA SMITH
gnsmith@thestate.com
TIM DOMINICK/TDOMINICK@THESTATE.COM
Busy beavers gnaw branches, fell trees and build troublesome dams such as this one that backs up Crane Creek, near Farrow Road. Columbia City Wastewater Management workers Jerry Lindsay and Jody Harley say they’ve broken down dams only to see them rebuilt within days.
More photosGoodbye, beavers.
The city of Columbia — weary of beavers building dams and swamping nearby sewer lines and manholes — has hired a federal agency to kill the animals.
City Council recently approved a $50,000 contract with The U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wildlife specialists will work for a year, killing beavers, breaking down dams and getting creeks and streams flowing again.
It’s too early to say how many animals will have to be killed.
The city may also get a helping hand from the animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is working with the Virginia Department of Transportation on tackling similar beaver issues.
A PETA biologist is expected to visit Columbia and see if special water-control devices can be used in lieu of killing the rodents. A combination of methods might be the solution.
“Unfortunately, the beavers are causing problems and the city has to address it before any more damage is done to our sewer lines,” said John Dooley, the city’s director of engineering and utilities. “We’ve hired the USDA but have also spoken with PETA and are open to exploring other possibilities on managing the problem.”
URBAN HABITATS
Beavers are wreaking the most havoc along Gills Creek, Crane Creek and Reeder Point Branch, large watersheds that stretch into Richland and Lexington counties.
As development in the Midlands has picked up and the city has laid sewer lines parallel to waterways to keep pace, beavers’ habitat has become urbanized.
Their dams cause waterways to flood and clog nearby manholes, sewer lines and people’s yards.
“So if something goes wrong with a sewer line, we have a hard time getting the equipment in to fix it,” Dooley said.
Tim Dominick- The State
Jan Kjellberg and his neighbors on Timberlane Drive call their street “Timberlake” Drive. “Whenever we get more than an inch of rain, the street floods,” Kjellberg said.
City officials have identified beaver dams nearby and think destroying them will help.
“I’m hoping that removing the beavers and their dams is going to fix it but we’re not going to know until we have the next heavy rain,” Kjellberg said.
SETTING THE TRAP
Federal officials will likely use a combination of foot hold traps, snares and snap traps in waterways where there is a lot of beaver activity.
Some traps clamp down and break the animal’s neck or spine. Others hold them under water until they drown.
Beavers cannot be relocated because state policy prohibits it.
“You’d just be transferring the problem to someone else,” said Noel Myers, state director of the USDA’s Wildlife Services.
Currently, the agency is working in 13 S.C. counties, trying to get North America’s biggest rodent in check. Federal wildlife specialists have worked in some of the counties since the 1990s.
Some animal activists, including those in PETA, say trapping is inhumane and ineffective because other beavers move into the area and build new dams.
Instead, Stephanie Boyles, a biologist with Virginia-based PETA, encourages cities to use water flow devices — pipes placed underneath dams which allow water to continue to flow.
The dams are left in place and the beavers are not killed.
“It’s more cost-effective and humane to invest in these long-term permanent solutions,” Boyles said, noting they’re cheap to build and maintain. “Otherwise, the animals will continue to recolonize those sites. The problem doesn’t go away.”
But Boyles concedes the devices don’t work in every situation. She’ll visit the city and assess whether they could work.
Agriculture officials endorse the use of such devices in certain situations, Myers said.
And no matter what approach the city decides on, Myers said the beaver population will not be eradicated.
“We have a very stable population of beaver in the state of S.C. There’s no way we want or even could eradicate them,” he said. “We’re just trying to reduce a threat that can impact personal property, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.”
Reach Smith at (803) 771-8462.
BEAVERS
Here’s a look at the North American beaver:
• The animals are common in almost any S.C. waterway.
• They typically weigh 35-40 pounds but can weigh up to 60. Adults range in size from 9 inches by 4 inches to 13 inches by 8 inches.
• Nocturnal and not aggressive, they eat the inner bark of trees and aquatic vegetation and avoid humans.
• Like humans, beavers alter their environment, building dams to flood land and create anaquatic environment for their colonies.
SOURCE: Jay Butfiloski, fur bearer project supervisor with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/16989247.htm
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