Beaver Removal & Exclusion
Beavers are portrayed on television and in the movies as cute, lovable, and hard-working. The reality is that of the three, hard-working is spot on. Their orange incisors continually grow, so the animal is constantly gnawing on wood to grind them down. They are intelligent animals and choose which trees to take down based on their needs. Mature trees are taken to form the base of a dam, and younger ones for food. They’ll even take down leafy trees to get the food source to grow closer to their lodge. Their lodges are made up of two dens, one for drying off and the other for sleeping and socializing. Beavers sometimes share their dwelling with muskrats.
After the capybara, beavers are the 2nd largest rodent in the world and the largest in North America. While they typically weigh between 25 and 75 pounds, older males can reach 100 lbs and 40 inches long. It’s hard to imagine our ancestors dealing with the Giant Beaver, a beast nearly 7 feet tall and weighing up to 275 lbs.
It should be handled quickly if you have an issue with them. They live for about 24 years in the wild, and you’ll have permanent tenants without prodding. They are monogamous and can produce up to 18 kits annually. Multiply that by the 21 years they can mate, and it is no wonder there were up to 60 million in North America at one time. Young beavers can stay up to 2 years in the lodge, helping their parents raise the newborns and collecting food.
Beavers are among the few animals that change their habitat, moving rocks, fixing leaks, and building dams. After humans, they are the most dynamic environment changers. It is the dams that they are most well-known for, some reaching 10 feet high and 1600 feet. That’s over five football fields long. The dams can cause flooding bad enough to destroy commercial forests. On your property, they strip the bark around the base of trees, called girdling, which leads to tree death. They have also been known to block culverts, leading to flooded houses and destroying boat docks.
If you have beavers on your property, it is not recommended to approach them. They aggressively defend their territory, and many reported attacks on humans have been reported. With their long and strong teeth, they can inflict serious injuries, and as potential carriers of transmittable diseases such as rabies, they are extremely dangerous. Their feces and bodily fluids also contaminate water with Giardiasis, which causes “beaver fever.” Our pets are also susceptible to attacks.
Fans of vanilla flavoring or scent, beware. For over 80 years, castoreum, secreted from the animal’s anus, has been used in foods and perfumes. It is considered a natural flavoring by the Food and Drug Administration. While very few animals have their own day, April 7th is International Beaver Day. Real fans may celebrate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
If beavers are causing issues for you in Sullivan, Missouri, or the surrounding area, Advanced Wildlife Control can help. We are the leading nuisance wildlife experts ready to take on your issues. Contact us today for an estimate.