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TheDirt - > The Dirt -> Photos: Bike path beaver's back
Photos: Bike path beaver's back

These are days when I love my job. I spent the afternoon with my jeans rolled up to my knees wading through a small stream trying to find a beaver.

This morning we received a report of another tree lost to the animal along the bike path near the Park at Riverwalk. As you may recall, this is the same area where at least nine cottonwoods were mowed down by a beaver in January. (See this story to read about that incident and the ensuing controversy that gained national attention.)

There's a small stream of water that runs from the bike path out toward the Kern River bed, so I decided to follow it and see what I found.

No beaver sighting -- not a big surprise since they're nocturnal -- but along the way I passed numerous trees that had been felled and chewed, and I even spotted a small dam.

I put the pics in the accompanying slideshow (click on the photos to the left).

Posted in the Animals interest group.
Topics: environment
posted by TheDirt on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 06:28 PM
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8 comments from 7 users

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posted by Griffon64 on Jun 17, 2008 at 09:39 PM

Beavers are easy to come by but trees take years to grow to the size of the ones this guy/gal is mowing down. Trap it and release it somewhere away from the city already. Unfortunately an urban environment is not the place for an animal whose habits does not slot readily into the way humans have changed things.

posted by siouxcityranch on Jun 17, 2008 at 09:53 PM

oh crap..Pup knows its in town..run little fella run...

posted by MerrileeSpoor on Jun 18, 2008 at 03:15 AM

Trap it. Don't kill it, I couldn't believe last time they kill the beaver.  release some were it can live, with out humans upsetting

it's life. 

posted by ABC23 on Jun 18, 2008 at 09:25 AM

The city can protect the trees. They tried some meshing, then took it all down...

posted by TheDirt on Jun 18, 2008 at 09:50 AM

Hey all, TheDirt here. A couple comments were made about the last beaver being killed, perhaps by KCAC ( which I'm guessing stands for Kern County Animal Control)? Just wondering where you heard that?

As far as we know, no one killed the animal that took down the trees in that area a few months back. Wildlife officials had set traps but removed (they were all empty) at the request of the city.

There was a beaver that was struck by a car on Union Avenue a few months back and I believe Animal Control took the animal and euthanized it because of the severe injuries it suffered. But I never heard that a beaver out near the Park at Riverwalk was killed.

 

posted by TheDirt on Jun 18, 2008 at 01:27 PM

I'm not an expert, but I wrote the stories about the beaver, including the one hit on Union Ave and later euthanized. I talked to a few people at the time and most believed it was highly unlikely the beaver hit by the car had migrated to Union Avenue from the Park at Riverwalk. Of course, no one knows for sure. But there was a canal near Union Ave that was thought to be where that beaver was living. It's likely there are many beavers living in Bakersfield. Several people have called or emailed  to say they've seen downed trees at Truxtun Lake and also over near Manor Drive.

 

posted by jmabbott888 on Jun 19, 2008 at 07:16 PM

Why even mess with the beaver? So he takes down a few trees, the beaver will use them. If you wanna trap it & move it, fine by me. We run into beavers (or maybe just 1) out by Hart Park when we camp at Okihi, he doesn't mess with us, we don't mess with him (other than shoot him alot with the camera). Don't get me wrong if it sounds like I'm a card carring PETA member, I hunt & fish & carry the PETA card, but a different one :People Eating Tasty Animals, just beaver doesn't taste all that good from what I've been told & he was there before you so leave him be.

posted by drilnliftcrude on Jun 19, 2008 at 07:30 PM

My suggestion would be to trap it and let it loose at the Grimm estate on Buena Vista south of Panama.  They can afford a whole forest and even have a lake or two on the property. 

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