Beaver trapping back on the agenda in PoCo

Coquitlam Now Feb.1,2006

By Jennifer Saltman - Staff Reporter

A Port Coquitlam woman is trying to save the beavers that live behind her home.

Behind Judy Moore's Parkview Lane condominium complex is what she calls "a wildlife habitat" - an area of marshy land where storm drains run off. The area is next to the PoCo-Traboulay Trail and behind Moore's complex is a walkway and benches.

"We all, as citizens, enjoy this," she says of the area.

She says residents enjoy seeing blue herons, turtles and wildlife of all sorts, including beavers.

However, she's worried there will be no more beavers if the City of Port Coquitlam begins trapping again.

Two weeks ago, Moore saw city workers felling trees nearby, and says she was told they plan to trap and kill beavers.

To make sure the beavers won't be harmed, Moore contacted the city. She was told that a city worker will show residents how to monitor the situation, and guide them on how to look after water tables and tell if they need to go out and open up a dam.

"We will be able to co-habitate with our beaver friends," Moore says.

But Moore wants to go beyond saving the beavers in her backyard.

"I think the citizens of Port Coquitlam need to know that they (city employees) have a mandate to (kill beavers)," Moore says.

When a dog was killed by a misplaced trap in December 2004, the city placed a temporary moratorium on trapping beavers, says Francis Cheung, the city's director of engineering and operations.

Cheung says there are seven active beaver areas on city property, although there could be countless others on Kwikwetlem First Nation land or private property.

The moratorium lasted just over a year and gave the city a chance to try different methods and then review its practices.

Instead of trapping beavers, labourers were hired to dismantle dams and remove debris, wrap trees and install pond levellers, devices that maintain a constant water level in a pond or lake.

"We had to spend a lot of resources and it wasn't very successful," Cheung says.

In spite of their efforts, trees were still coming down, there was property damage from flooding and a fallen tree crushed a car parked on private property. Cost was also a concern.

"What we have expressed to council is that we will still continue to use various non-invasive-type approaches ... and if those are not effective tools or measures to manage the beavers, we may need to use trapping as the last resort," Cheung says.

He adds that Moore was told that the city will continue to try and manage beavers with other measures, but if dams create a flooding problem or there is property damage, then the city may not have a choice but to trap.

"I think she understood that," Cheung said.

"If her strata wished to come and talk to the city in terms of how they would like ... to manage the dam and the beaver population, then she's more than welcome to approach the city to set up a streamkeepers group for that area behind her strata."

This could prevent the beavers from being killed, but Cheung says even constant use of non-invasive beaver control has setbacks.

"Beavers, they have a very high work ethic. As soon as we breach the dam to allow the water to flow through, they'll come back that very same night to try and build the dam back up again," Cheung says.

"The more you go in there and dismantle the dam and try to breach the water, they'll cut down more trees."

If there comes a time when trapping is necessary, Cheung says, the city will use conibear traps, which are approved by the province, and use a licenced trapper.

Cheung says the conibear trap, which catches beavers underwater, is the most humane way of trapping the city could find, although animal activist groups disagree.

Sometimes, if the animal is not the right size or is not trapped at the right angle, an animal will slowly drown instead of being killed quickly by the trap.

Although municipalities used to use live traps, provincial regulations now prevent them from relocating beavers, since relocated animals can spread disease in the wild. Overpopulation of beavers can also lead to food shortages and predatory issues.

"We don't like to trap, it's not something that we like to do, but it's something that we need to consider to protect public safety and (prevent) property damage. That's really the key to why we use trapping as one of the tools to manage the beaver population," Cheung says.