Sarvey Wildlife Center

A Beaver Tale
by Sandy Dahl

by Sandy Dahl It was my favorite day of the week, Wednesday. This was when I took a vacation from the human souls around me and absorbed myself in the pure earthly treasures we have among us, the animals. It was my time to check in with real life. Our towns wildlife rehab center, Sarvey, was my destination. My routine had been the same for over a year now and it felt good. My first duty of the day was to say my good mornings and welcomes to those who were there. It's always a time of many emotions. One spring day a baby beaver arrived, it had lost it's mother. I quietly looked in the cage and there she was, a little brown fur ball with eyes frightened and searching for security. My heart melted and uncontrollable maternal instincts kicked in. I wanted to do the best I could to help her be a beaver. When she first arrived she was fed with a baby bottle, it was as long as she was. I found it hard to imagine that she could be 40 pounds someday. Her personality was gentle, during our visits she looked to my eyes for reassurance and I always gave it to her letting her feel my deep love for her. Beavers are close to each other and appreciate family, I wanted her to feel secure so I spent time grooming and playing with her. When she played, her little nips were so gentle, never breaking the skin, she would hold my finger in her mouth and try to bring me into her den. If she rolled on her back, that was tummy rubbing time. I found myself going to the center a few times a week now just to see her. I picked willow branches of different sizes for her to chew on, she adored the leaves and would chew the thin bark off of the larger ones and eat the whole branch of the thin ones. After she was finished she would drag them to a corner and make a pile. This was one of the first signs of her natural instincts, dam building. Now came the water she had to learn about. We had been swimming her daily in a large tub, but as she grew this was not big enough for her to learn diving skills. It was time for the outdoor pool. I took her out for the first time and put her in. It was alot more open space than she was use to. Her instincts led her under the ramp for safety. Now coaxing her out was my duty. She bobbed there watching me as I stood on the outside of the pool. She didn't want to come out of her hiding place so I crawled into the pen and slid on my stomach down the ramp to be close to her. That was the security she needed. She came out, slowly swimming around with her head above the water looking up at the sky and her new surroundings. I could see her nostrils taking in all of the new smells as she constantly looked up to make sure I was there. Then all of the sudden, under the water she went, swimming half way around the pool. Her coat was incased with a thin layer of air making her look silver, her eyes looked up at me from under the water. This was her first dive of any length, natural instincts won again showing me that she dove under water when startled and held her breath effortlessly. When she came up, she was quite pleased with herself and went for another dive right away. Within an hour she had mastered swimming along the bottom of the pool holding her breath longer each time. Over the months she would go out to the pool and climb up to the pen to dry off and eat. Her swimming skills were developed, soon it would be time for her to be released. We offered her all types of native foliage and roots. She would take her food and store it in the water or push it in a corner for later, this was a good sign that she knew to save for the winter months. She was now close to thirty pounds, her tail was big and strong ready to build her own den. Her coat was beautiful, it was shiny brown and underneath it was thick to keep her warm. Her grooming skills were good and she distributed her body oils well to keep her waterproof. I knew she was ready to go build her own den and have a family. The day was here, time for her new life to start. We scouted out a piece of property with a creek just east of the center. The owners were thrilled to have a beaver released there so that was a good thing. There was plenty of vegetation, the water could back up so a dam was no problem and they understood she was on her own for the first time. It was important to find her a place with someone who didn't mind giving her a hand if she needed help. These were the right people. One of the other volunteers and myself packed her up in a transport cage and made our way out to her new home. It was sad and exciting at the same time. We brought her down to the stream and opened the door to the cage. She knew exactly what to do. She went down the little hill right to the water and went in. Immediately she started digging at the bottom of the streams floor and moving dirt and rocks around. Then she started gathering sticks of all sizes and attempted to dam the water flow. We left her some food to make sure she knew this was her new home. The property owners were more than willing to keep an eye on her for a few weeks and bring her food until she mastered her own food salvaging skills. It didn't take her long to figure it out. Her first week there she had a den dug out in the side of the hill. She would come out in the mornings and eat and then spend the day working on her new surroundings. One morning, after a few weeks, the people went down for the morning feeding and she didn't come out. They left her food and went on with their day. The next morning they went down again and the food from the day before was still there. Finally after a few days they looked in her den, she wasn't there. All they could do was hope that she moved on up the stream and she knew enough to make it through the up coming winter. Then their son came to their home for a visit and hiked up the stream. He came back saying he had found her in an abandoned den, she was working away. We were happy to hear this and have a happy ending to the tale of a beaver growing up and being successful.