"The Financial and Environmental Benefit of Beaver Control"

The North American Beaver is one of the most economically and environmentally destructive animals we have here in Georgia. Each year across the United States hundreds of millions of dollars of quality timber is destroyed by these rodents. Beaver build dams, flood crop fields and destroy them in a very short time. If you are a large landowner who is growing timber to sell and beaver start building dams and backing up creeks on your property, the water will kill any tree whose roots become submerged for any length of time. This could wind up costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost timber. Notice picture #3. The landowner here has allowed beaver to build dams and back the creek up in this huge swamp until it flooded hundreds of acres of land. Now, this area is basically good for nothing. No use can be made of it to any advantage. It is a train wreck of fallen trees, stumps, limbs and such that movement across it would be very difficult or impossible. Even if all of the beaver were now trapped out and the swamp drained, it is still too late because the timber is ruined and falling trees would be an ever present danger. It is home to the beaver and water moccasin, the blue heron and fish.

If you are a small landowner with a creek running thru your property and beaver move in and begin building dams and backing the water up, it will flood your land and is also a breeding ground for snakes and mosquitoes that carry the West Nile Virus. It does no good to break the dam because they beaver will rebuild it back that night. The beavers must all be trapped out before the dam is broken. One would be very wise to catch this problem ASAP to save as much land and timber as possible. Procrastination concerning beaver removal is very expensive. The longer the beaver work and back up a creek, the more expensive it will be to remove them. Trapping is the only solution to this problem. Shooting at them only makes them go strictly nocturnal, which means they move and feed after dark. Last year, USDA/Aphis trapped and euthanized over 22,000 nuisance beaver here in the United States. This does not include the much higher numbers trapped and removed by Nuisance Wildlife Trappers in each of the states. If you want to see the damage beaver can do when they are allowed to continue to dam up a creek and are not trapped out, go down Sandy Creek Rd. off of Center Hill Church Rd in Loganville, Ga. and you will come to some large concrete barriers blocking the road. Years ago, you were able to cross the creek in your car or truck but beavers moved in, built three huge dams, backed the water up, flooded the bottom land to the extent that the water is threatening homes in the area. The flooded swamp is probably 150 yards across in some places, nearly 1/2 mile long and is over 7 feet deep at the dams. I was called in by the neighbors to assess the problem and after seeing the enormity of the situation first hand as well as on Google Earth, I suggested to the homeowners that they contact the Army Corp of Engineers or the USDA in Monroe, Ga. to resolve the situation. I did not have the time or manpower to tackle such a huge project. I told one of the residents that once the beavers were trapped out, divers from Wildlife Services or the USDA would have to plant charges at the bottom of each dam and blow them to release the water downstream. Ride down and see for yourselves first hand what destruction a family of beavers can do.

I met with a landowner in Good Hope recently that stated he had been fighting beavers on his property for two years. His wife finally told him that they needed to call in a Professional Trapper since the landowner was wearing himself out doing essentially something that would not achieve the desired result. We assessed the situation, found the travel ways, set traps this past Saturday and Sunday morning I received a call that I had one. See pics above. We reset the traps and are going to see if there are any more in this small pond. This one may have been a large adult bachelor beaver living by himself. All of the resident Beavers must be trapped out before the dam is broken or they will rebuild it the same night.

People don’t have to continue to put up with Nuisance animals wrecking their property. We are here to solve your problems in a timely manner and give you peace of mind.

We have had no confirmed beaver activity in the pond behind the landowner’s home since I caught the large one Saturday night. I thought I had one coming up behind the dam to repair where I had broken it open but the camera showed only a deer. Nevertheless, wanting to be thorough, I put in a drowning set and a snare behind the dam today. If one did come up and the camera didn’t catch it, these traps will. After discussion with the landowner, we are going to leave traps out until Tuesday. The next phase of the project after all of the Beavers are trapped out is to remove the dam. This allows the swamp to drain as much as possible. Otherwise, mosquitoes will continue to lay eggs in the still water. Some of them carry West Nile Virus.

Tim Ivey

Eastern Wolfers Wildlife Mangement, LLC.

http://www.easternwolferscoyotetrappers.com/index.html

404-583-2378