State officials have confirmed what many people who live near streams and other bodies of water throughout Massachusetts have known for some time: There has been an explosion of the beaver population. Beaver dams can flood bodies of water, in turn contaminating septic systems and drinking wells, as well as flooding roads and peoples yards.
| Heh, heh, heh. They're real cute little animals, until your property goes under water. |
Arnie Rill, 80, a lifelong resident of Lunenburg who said he has been trapping beavers since he was 10 years old, told the Sentinel and Enterprise newspaper of Fitchburg, "There are more beavers now than I've ever seen in my life."
| I grew up around this neck of the woods and he's right, they're damming every trickle of water they can find. |
According to Chrissy Henner, a furbearer biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, the beaver population has tripled since state legislation first prohibited the use of numerous animal traps in 1996. Many trappers quit the business after the law was passed, causing the beaver population to increase dramatically, wildlife officials said. The law still allows trappers to use box traps and cage traps that simply trap the animal without directly hurting it, but are more complex and expensive than those banned, such as the conibear and leghold traps.
| Then there is the problem of what to do with them after you catch 'em alive. |
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