Beavers Adapt to Urban and Suburban Environments
Do you think beavers only inhabit pristine wilderness areas? If so, we offer these pictures and blog entry to shine some light on the very adaptable nature of beavers.
All it really takes to have beavers move into your neighborhood is a waterway and some trees.
The following series of pictures documents a beaver colony living (and thriving) in an urban area of Akron, Ohio. Industrial sounds and smells…littered plastic bags and styrofoam cups…the rumble of freight trains…all just par for the course for this beaver colony.
Taking a walk toward the beavers’ hut, one of the urban beavers is spotted. With a water intake for a chemical processor on one side and an industrial complex on the other side, an adult beaver swims down the waterway to get a bite to eat.
There is vegetation here and plenty of water…with these two key factors present, beavers can adapt to the sights and sounds.
Closer towards the hut, there happened to be a tree which took root precariously between two railroad trestle foundations. In spite of the graffiti (included for realism, not offense) and train traffic, the beavers apparently like to hang out under the bridge and get their gnaw on.
Just a little further up the canal and the main hut is visible. As you can see, this is a large and active hut. There is an ample feed bed (all the sticks in the water in front of the hut) as the beaver family has made preparations for ice cover. A smoke stack and large industrial site are close by in the background.
Below are close ups of the beavers’ feed bed and hut. Each shows the littered plastic materials so common to an urban area that the beavers deal with on a daily basis. We particularly like the way the beavers have incorporated some discarded lumber they found into their hut.
On the walk back to the car, the beaver that was out for a swim is found perched on a log having a meal of some underwater vegetation. This beaver was not very skittish of human presence: we were within twenty feet of it. It kept its eye on us, but we never got the tail slap we were expecting. To us it seemed as conditioned to human gawkers as it does to its gritty urban environment.
Need Help with a Nuisance Beaver Problem in Northeast Ohio?
Once established in a suburban or urban area, be prepared for beavers to start changing the landscape: Trees are cut down and gnawed on for food and building materials. Dams are constructed as beavers attempt to create deep(er) water, which is their sanctuary.
When the tree cutting begins to scar the landscape and the water rises in areas people don’t want it to rise, the human/beaver conflict has begun. It is in these instances that homeowners contact a nuisance animal removal company that can manage the beaver problem through beaver trapping and removal.
If beavers have followed the waterways to your Northeast Ohio property and are unwanted, give Frontline Animal Removal a call today. We have the tools and knowledge to help.
