Beaver Backers Won’t Back Down: Nearly 60,000 Sign Petition

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The Fargo Park District’s meeting had a few more people in attendance.

All for a furry little animal home to the Red River.

KVRR’s Sarah Brechbill tells us why it’s one of the park district’s more controversial issues.

Erin Paul had no plans of attending Fargo Park District’s monthly meeting…until she heard something she couldn’t believe.

“When I heard that the solution to the beaver problem was to trap them and drown them, I think that’s awful,” says Erin Paul of Moorhead.

The beaver population is a problem that the Fargo Parks District has long been dealing with.

They are attempting to preserve the trees that beavers are gnawing down.

But not all community members agreed with the solution.

Nearly 60,000 people who signed the beavers backers petition…say NO to a lethal removal.

“And there’s other alternatives to drowning the beavers like painting or guarding the trees.”

Painting the trees mixed with a grit that beavers don’t like seems like an easy alternative but…

“You go down and look at the thousands and thousands and millions and millions of whatever trees…where would you start? And if you do it on the Fargo side you do it on the Minnesota side the issue can be overwhelming as to what to do,” says Fargo Parks District Director Roger Gress.

An issue raising ethical concerns, like the amount of time it takes to drown the beaver.

“Could be a half hour, it depends upon if they’re preparing to die if they can get a good breath, a lot of variables. But they are designed to live in low oxygen levels so much longer than any other mammal.”

There are plenty of alternatives, so instead of just focusing on one…

“It really is good to do a multi–disciplinary approach and try as many things, so not just tree guarding, not just painting but all of those things and find out which works for that colony of beavers,” says Humane Society Senior Director Dave Pauli.

A colony of beavers that are drawing a large following.

Sarah Brechbill KVRR News.

The Park District will discuss possible alternatives at the next monthly meeting. If no decision is reached, the district will skip fall trapping season and begin later in the spring.