General

Nuisance beavers on notice

PEI contracts trappers to kill 150 of them

Prince Edward Island’s rivers are infested with so-called “nuisance beavers,” the National Post reports, whose dams are causing flooding, killing trees, contaminating water and interfering with fish migration, and so the provincial government has contracted three professional trappers to kill over 150 of them. The province has a new “beaver policy” and a permanent committee to deal with “beaver problems affecting highways,” it says. After this summer’s beaver cull, their pelts will be sold. Environmental officer Shelley Cole-Arbing said the move is in the “interest of public safety.” Beavers are multiplying because they have no natural predators, and the number of trappers has dwindled. In 2009, a report from the Atlantic Salmon Federation said the salmon run would be gone from at least three PEI rivers if beavers weren’t culled.

National Post

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