A beaver that has been making its home in Churchill Park this winter, and was beloved by regular park goers, was found dead by a couple who was trying to catch a glimpse of the country’s national animal over the weekend.
Caroline Young and her husband were on a mission to see the Churchill Park beaver in its natural habitat after reading a previous CambridgeToday story.
On Jan. 8, the couple got packed up and hit the trails in an attempt to see one of Canada’s most revered animals in action.
When they got to the pond, they first saw the massive willow tree the beaver had nearly chewed through, then they made a horrible discovery; the beaver was lying dead in the stream.
“We walked around for about 15 minutes and couldn’t find him,” said Young. “We were just about to leave and we saw what we thought was a muskrat laying under some sticks.”
After turning over some of the foliage covering the animal, it was revealed to be the beaver. Having not seen any obvious signs of injury, they were questioning how it could have died.
“There were no bite marks in it or any signs of damage,” said Young. “We’re just hoping some crazy person didn’t get it into their mind that these animals were destroying anything and poisoned it.”
Young and her husband are active naturalists and enjoy studying and finding wildlife such as beavers. What she was hoping was a nice morning taking photos and marvelling at the beauty of nature, turned into an unexpected tragic event.
“It was just so sad to see it laying there,” she said. “When I discovered it my heart just sank.”
The City of Cambridge has confirmed to CambridgeToday that their team did go to the creek at Churchill Park on Monday and a deceased beaver was recovered.
“We have called animal services to remove the beaver,” said Micheal Hausser, director of infrastructure for the city. “From our observations, there is no obvious cause for the beaver’s death.”
The city had implemented measures to prevent the beaver from continuing to cut down the trees by wrapping the trunks of the larger trees in a wire mesh. Hausser said the animal did not pass away due to any act by the city or city staff.
When Young was recalling the situation she did notice that there were some carrots scattered on the banks of the creek, making her think the animal could have died of something other than natural causes.
“It almost looked like someone was trying to get them to eat the carrots, but I can't be sure if that is what killed them,” she added.
Young feels for the people who have made it a habit to come and watch the beaver and the progress they make. She is hoping that if there was foul play involved that those who committed the act will be brought to justice.
“People don’t realize that beavers are the engineers of our ecosystem,” said Young. “It’s just devastating that some people think that beavers cause nothing but damage.”
