A recent article in the West Prince Graphic about beavers has given my an opportunity to revisit some recent news about our favorite rodent.

First, the West Prince Graphic article is about large beavers in the Round Pond area, where local residents noted that some beavers caught in the provincial beaver cull were up to 70 pounds in weight.

Beavers packing on pounds in West Prince
Wed, 08/11/2010

They are the largest rodents in Canada and they appear to be even larger in watersheds in West Prince, according to Allan McInnis.

“An ordinary growing beaver is about 40 to 45 pounds. There were a couple caught (recently) in the Round Pond (in central Kildare) that were 60 to 70 pounds,” said Mr McInnis, co-ordinator of the Tignish Watershed Management Group, which boasts as many 15 volunteers during peak periods.

Mr McInnis doesn’t know why the beavers are so large, but he spectulates it’s because they were left alone and didn’t face much trapping pressure.

http://peicanada.com/west_prince_graphic/publication/beavers_packing_pou...

I did some checking and unfortunately, our beavers are not super-sized. Most literature indicates that up 1 m in length and 60-70 lb beaver is not unheard of. During my reading however, I did come across an interesting thing.

Back in the saber-toothed tiger and wholly mammoth days, there were beavers. Cool eh ! Anyway, from the fossil record, they figure beavers of the day were over 3 meters in length and over 350 kg's. Now that is a super-sized beaver !

Here are some links for all the info on beaver you would need.

http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=82
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver

Here is the CBC article announcing the beaver cull back in May.

P.E.I. begins beaver culling
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The government of Prince Edward Island has hired three trappers to control the Island’s beaver population and reduce the damage the animals cause to public roads every year.

“Beavers can provide significant challenges to public infrastructure by building dams and blocking culverts with debris,” said Shelley Cole-Arbing of the Department of Transportation and Public Works.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2010/05/12/pei-beave...

Before the announcement above, there was some debate about the issues of problem beavers in the provincial legislature. The Environment Minister Richard Brown, reminiscences about the good ole days of his youth spent blowing up beaver dams.

P.E.I. environment minister reminisces about blowing up beaver dams
Thursday, April 30, 2009

Opposition questions on Thursday about a growing problem with beavers blocking P.E.I.'s waterways prompted reminiscences from Environment Minister Richard Brown of blowing up beaver dams.

Brown told the legislature that his department is hiring people who hunt beavers to help clear the streams — then went on to recount how beavers were dealt with in his younger days.

"I had a few summers when I was a young fellow, driving around Prince Edward Island with a couple of cases of dynamite in the car and blowing up dams, and I know the issues out there," he said.

"We had our ticket and we used to spend a couple of days a week going out and blowing up beaver dams."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/04/30/pei-brown...

I suspect one of the reasons we seem to be having more issues with beavers is years ago, there were many more trappers on PEI. This played an important part of keeping beaver populations in check. With less trappers today, the beavers increase in number and spread to more areas. Someone has to keep them in check , due to the destructive nature their dams can cause. The province has to be that someone.

That being said, it is important to have beavers in our midst, as they can and do play an important part in natural environments. Natural ponds they create are great for fish and waterfowl, and dams provide wildlife corridors.