Displaced Beavers in Arlington

Arlington Beavers Displaced by Hurricane Sandy

Posted on October 31, 2012 by acgcitizen

Hurricane Sandy’s high winds and driving rains brought some unusual visitors to two Arlington neighborhoods.
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington reported that on Tuesday, Oct. 30, the day after the storm’s fury peaked here, two calls came in of beavers sightings in our highly urbanized community.

“We don’t get many beaver calls at all, so two in one day was very unusual,” said the Animal Welfare League’s Susan Sherman. “It was definitely due to the weather.”  Sherman said one beaver, spotted in North Arlington, “escaped on its own,” but an Animal Control officer captured a second beaver sighted in Pentagon City, and set it free at Gravelly Point, near Reagan National Airport. Neither beaver, she said, showed any sign of injuries or illness. “There is no reason to think that once the waters recede, they won’t be back in business,” Sherman said.

Over the past decade, Arlington has been home to six to 12 beavers a year, according to Arlington County Naturalist Greg Zell. The County boasts two beaver lodges. Both are in Roach’s Run Waterfowl Sanctuary. Other beavers who live in the County build “bank dens,” into the banks of streams. “They dig a hole into the stream bank and tunnel up — sort of like a condo in the mud,” Zell said. Arlington beavers tend to be two-year-olds who have been ejected from colonies along the Potomac River. “They are very transient,” Zell said. “They come here looking for a home, and some don’t like what they see. We have a very marginal habitat in Arlington for beavers.”

Zell speculated that the two beavers who strayed into neighborhoods in the wake of Sandy were temporarily flooded out of their homes. “They were inconvenienced, like the rest of us,” he said. “Now that the storm is gone, they’ll go back to their homes and refurbish them.”

Zell cautioned that if you see a beaver, ” don’t pet it, don’t let your pets near it. Either allow it to wander off on its own, or call the Animal Welfare League if the animal cannot escape.”

Sandy’s impact on most wildlife in Arlington was temporary and limited, Zell said. Most migratory birds, have already passed through the County or headed south for the winter. Squirrels may have suffered the loss of their nests, and will have to quickly rebuild before winter hits. Small snakes, moles, shrews and other smaller wildlife that normally live beneath the soil may have been forced to the surface by the drenching rain, but will be fine once the ground dries out.