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No numbers on beavers killed this year

Langley Advance
Friday, November 21, 2008

Dear Editor,

Fur-Bearer Defenders has sent nine letters since Jan. 15 asking the Township of Langley for the number of beavers trapped and killed in the Township.

We received no reply whatsoever for eight of these letters, and therefore started to believe someone was ashamed and/or embarrassed at the high number being trapped.

The only reply we received would not provide us with the numbers killed.

Langley Township, like nearly every other municipality in the Lower Mainland, has provided these numbers to our association, without any problem, for the years beginning in 2000. Only Langley now seems reluctant to provide the figures.

Our association has not received a reply, though some of our members and the general public have been given the excuse that, because "the Township deals with various contractors, statistics on beaver removal have not been maintained."

Yet most municipalities also use one or more trappers, and still provide us with the numbers trapped.

Indeed, the municipality pays the trapper for each beaver removal.

Perhaps we can learn instead the total amount that the Township paid the contractors in each of the past years.

We are growing deeply concerned that perhaps Langley has become the major area for killing problem beavers, and we believe it is not necessary, using alternative methods.

Metro Vancouver (formerly known as GVRD) has an 84-page Best Management Practices Guide for Beaver on reducing the need for trapping beavers in relation to water control or other issues.

We found it an excellent resource, with proven success of multiple pond levellers, currently in use throughout the Metro Vancouver Parks system.

George V. Clements, Fort Langley

© Langley Advance 2008