After taking an arrow through its body, a battered but fortunate beaver is on the mend following a multi-day rescue effort earlier this month.
Severn Township-based Speaking of Wildlife received an SOS a few weeks ago about a wounded beaver in the Washago area, which spurred a rescue effort involving volunteers and personnel from the Severn Fire and Emergency Services over the ensuing days.
While efforts were made to lure the beaver out of a culvert in the area, the fire department ultimately flushed it out by pumping water into the culvert. After the water level was raised, flushing the beaver from the culvert, volunteers were able to capture the injured critter.
“Probably not your typical day with the fire department, but they were able to … come out and help us flush water into the culvert so that the beaver would be encouraged to leave it,” said Speaking of Wildlife’s Krystal Hewitt.
Hewitt said the arrow pierced completely through the beaver’s torso from the right side, damaging its scapula while missing its internal organs, making it the “luckiest unlucky beaver that we know,” she said.
Once the beaver was captured, it was transferred to Pefferlaw-based Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge, where the arrow was removed. Rehabilitation has now begun.
“We’re very much rooting for her,” Hewitt said. “They were able to remove the arrow without any internal bleeding or any damage to any internal organs. There is some damage to the bone structure, so the beaver is still in treatment, getting regular wound care and just regular maintenance to make sure that the healing is going in the right direction.”
While the beaver’s prognosis is still unclear, Hewitt said caretakers are “very happy with her progress” to date.
When it comes to wildlife, Hewitt said it’s important to remember that people and animals need to find ways to coexist.
“We need to appreciate the fact that we share this environment with wildlife, and cohabitation is always at the forefront of our education program,” she said. “There are a lot of things that we can do to naturally deter wildlife or to encourage them to leave our property if they are causing damage and that kind of thing.”
If people do have nuisance animals on their properties, Hewitt encourages them to reach out to wildlife organizations like Speaking of Wildlife before injuring animals like the beaver she helped rescue.
“We just encourage that people really do their homework before taking any kind of action like this,” she said. “We've seen more animals than we care to count with arrows through them, and I really hope that the people that may be responsible are just misinformed. Maybe a little education could go a long way in helping.”
Hewitt said Shades of Hope is accepting donations to help care for the ‘lucky’ beaver.
