Rehabbing A Beaver John Aberth How one local

John with BK at one week old.

Rehabbing a Beaver

John Aberth - Roxbury, VT

On May 10, 2020, I received an orphaned beaver kit, weighing just oneand-a-half pounds, whose entire family was killed when their dam was breached and their lodge crushed by a private landowner armed with a backhoe who deemed their presence a “nuisance.” I am a volunteer licensed wildlife rehabilitator who specializes in beavers. Beavers are one of the most challenging animals to rehab: The entire process takes two years, since that is how long beaver kits remain with their parents in the wild, and orphaned beavers require not just the basic necessities of food, warmth, and protection, but also companionship, since beavers are very family-oriented animals who form tight-knit bonds within a colony through grooming behaviors, communal feeding, nursing, etc. The rehabilitator must then take the place of the kit’s parents and form Winter 2023 those bonds with him or her. Needless, to say, I got to know beavers real well as a result of this experience.

Using a specially formulated milk replacer, my wife and I fed BK (short for Beaver Kit) and he grew big and strong. At three months he weighed 15 pounds and at a year old he was 38 pounds. By the time I released him, two years later, he was up to 50 pounds! His favorite sticks to eat were willow and poplar, but I also fed him specially formulated “rodent chow” nuggets that supplied him with nutrients he’d normally find in the wild. In May 2021, when BK was a year old, I received another orphaned yearling, this one a female, who became BK’s “roommate” and they were released together. BK and Mrs. Beaver were released on land owned by the New England Wilderness Trust (NEWT), at an old, unoccupied beaver pond which they quickly made their home and maintain as a marvelous wetland habitat.

Beavers are heavily trapped in Vermont, even though this orphans kits who remain dependent on their parents all through regulated “seasons.” Traditionally trapped for their fur, beavers are also viewed as a “nuisance” because their dams occasionally flood roadways and block culverts. But beavers are considered by biologists to be a “keystone” species for their ability to create wetland habitats whose biodiversity is comparable to rainforests and coral reefs. They are also dubbed “climate change superheroes” because their wetlands act as carbon sinks and as drought buffers and wildfire breaks. Because beavers, like all furbearers, self-regulate their populations in accordance with the carrying capacity of the landscape, there is no need to “manage” their populations through trapping, as Fish and Wildlife agencies often assume. Trapping is by far the least successful solution to beaver-human conflicts, since new beavers quickly move into a trapped site. (Beavers are very territorial and, when alive, are the best way to keep out other beavers!) Instead, highquality flow devices provide long-term, sustainable solutions that allow human communities to live side-by-side with beavers and enjoy the many benefits of their wetland habitats. Protect Our Wildlife, a Vermont nonprofit, offers grants to help landowners and towns coexist with beavers, which is a winwin for all!

John Aberth is a volunteer licensed wildlife rehabilitator based in Roxbury, Vermont. He is also a board member of Protect Our Wildlife, a Vermont-based wildlife advocacy group.