Community concerned after local beavers killed
Signs at a Michigan City pond read, “Trapped and Killed.”
They explain the fate of two beavers living in Streibel pond, after a city department decided beavers were too much of a nuisance and took action.
But some people in town are upset, saying crews took it too far, and some even say its “inhumane.”
The Sanitary District’s foreman immediately hung up the phone after our reporter told him he was with ABC 57, we went to the DNR for an explanation.
If you take a walk along Striebel Pond in Michigan City, you’ll likely see signs that say, “The two beavers that lived here were trapped and KILLED.”
“The way this sign reads that’s scary, it angers me and it should all of us,” said Gretchen Worley, a volunteer wildlife rescuer.
Tuesday, ABC 57 showed this sign to Worley and this was her reaction after reading it for the first time:
“How? Why? Was there a full attempt at scaring these beavers to relocate? Or were they just trapped and immediately put down its senseless.”
To help answer those questions, ABC 57 stopped by the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan City.”
“Beavers for their homes like higher water so they’ll dam up the water, pack mud sticks in a certain area and it backs up that water,” said DNR Commander Shawn Brown.
Brown says the Sanitary District trapped and killed the beavers to prevent water levels from rising and flooding neighboring homes.
Worley doesn’t deny the beaver nuisance but she says more humane measures should have been taken.