Lutra 46(2)_Hadidian_2003

Managing conflicts with beaver in the United States: an animal welfare perspective

As had happened earlier in Europe, the American beaver (Castor canadensis) was almost completely extirpated from its historic range because of human exploitation. Anywhere from 50 to 400 million beaver may have occurred throughout North America prior to the arrival of Europeans. Today, the population in the United States has recovered from unknown historic lows to a point where conflicts with humans have notably increased. The standard approach to resolving human-beaver conflicts has been to kill beaver and destroy their structures. From both an environmental as well as animal welfare perspective this approach is regarded as short-sighted. This paper addresses the issue of humane and environmentally responsible beaver conflict management, and identifies alternatives that control the problems beaver cause without necessitating their removal. It also addresses the benefits created by the presence of beaver in even highly urbanized ecosystems and details the strategy of one animal protection organization, the Humane Society of the United States, to educate the public about the beneficial role these animals can play.