(A beaver family member who makes its home in a Stittsville Goulbourn Wetlands Complex pond along the Trans Canada Trail. The beaver seen here is collecting a tree trunk for his lodge. Photo: Sylvia Sabourin)
(Editor’s Note: The Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre (OCWC) has been working on the issue of culling and killing beavers for many years. More than a decade ago, City Council directed staff to develop a Wildlife Strategy that “would facilitate and foster a more harmonious relationship with all wildlife. Council’s direction was motivated not only by general concerns for biodiversity and harmony with nature but by specific issues and complaints arising from the City’s policies and procedures for dealing humanely with individual animals or populations of animals.” The following is a press release from the OCWC’s President, Donna DuBreuil, expressing strong concerns about Ottawa’s draft Wildlife Strategy.)
The Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre (OCWC) is calling on Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and other council members to challenge a staff report that – if approved – would endorse a status quo that has proven expensive, ineffective and harmful to local wildlife for years.
A joint meeting of the city’s agriculture and rural affairs and environmental and climate change committees will meet June 17 to vote on the draft strategy, which OCWC President Donna DuBreuil calls “draconian” in its response to beaver management.
“Our organization worked collaboratively with environmental, conservation and community groups to present the city with a series of position papers that detail the ingredients essential for an effective Wildlife Strategy. Those recommendations were ignored, and community voices silenced,” said DuBreuil. “This report flies in the face of proven best practices.”
These common sense recommendations, informed by more than 30 years of public education on coexistence with wildlife, include: public engagement and education; building lasting and trusting relationships with communities and local stakeholder organizations; and adopting best practices when it comes to human-wildlife encounters, wildlife sensitive planning and protecting wildlife during major construction projects – with the latter not even mentioned in the report.
DuBreuil calls the draft report “shocking” in how little real change is proposed. For example, the report confirms: (1) the long-standing determination of staff to continue the indefensible killing of beavers and the negative impact this has on the environment; and (2) the control that staff continue to exert, shutting out the public on biodiversity and environmental concerns, reducing accountability and transparency.
“Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has said that increasing trust, transparency and accountability are major priorities for him. At the same time, the majority of city councillors elected in 2022 committed to support the use of flow devices as a humane and cost-effective alternative to trapping and killing beavers,” said DuBreuil. “The public expects their elected representatives to honour their commitments.”
There is strong public support for progressive measures to co-existence. The city’s recently released “As We Heard It” report from two public information sessions and two surveys held last year identified “significant concern” among residents regarding the lethal trapping of beavers, with the majority wanting this keystone species protected.
The City of London has been installing flow devices for nearly a decade and now include flow device plans in the design for its new stormwater ponds. In all of this time, London has only had to trap two beavers, compared to Ottawa that traps 150 beavers every year. Yet, city drainage staff continue to refuse to openly explain the reasons behind their unwillingness to adopt flow device technology.
“In addition to needlessly killing a species that is critical to maintaining wetlands, there is no accounting for how much the hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars the city spends on staff time and resources to inspect and clean culverts and break up dams at the 30-50 beaver management sites on a weekly basis,” said DuBreuil. “We call for a public meeting with city staff and its drainage engineers where a where a flow device expert can discuss the benefits of flow devices and respond to questions of drainage staff and the public on the use of these devices.”
Lack of public involvement and oversight
Perhaps most concerning in the draft report is the lack of public engagement, oversight and accountability that is essential for an effective wildlife strategy.
“The report’s recommendations to establish an advisory board of wildlife experts and service providers seems a controlled, token affair, given that it is limited to only reviewing/advising on information and education materials and meets just twice a year,” said DuBreuil.
The report also proposes that a new Wildlife Resource Specialist be responsible for beaver management, the Large Mammal Response Protocol, and the recommended partnership with Coyote Watch Canada without any public oversight.
At Monday’s meeting, the OCWC will be calling on committee members to challenge the staff’s report, and adopt a Wildlife Strategy that sees the City of Ottawa:
- Seek out best practices and adopt proven, successful and cost-saving solutions to what are universal municipal challenges, and
- Collaborate with community and environmental groups, and engage residents, in a committed, transparent and consistent manner.
For Stittsville Central’s previous articles on the protection of beavers in the Stittsville area, please refer to these links:
Do not kill the animals perhaps move them to another wetland, they are part of NATURE.