The beaver population is finally making a come-back. They were nearly driven to extinction because of hunters largely reducing their numbers to earn some extra money through the fur trade.

However, the beaver population is now approximately between 6 to 12 million strong in the United States and still growing. This exponential growth in the beaver population will only increase your chances of coming across them in your neighborhoods. They are relatively harmless and will most likely shy away from any type of human contact, but they can do some damage to our property.

So, many of us would prefer to keep them off of our property and away from our family even if they are not that dangerous.

The pros

Beavers are typically seen as nature’s little engineers. They love to build dams, and we are now seeing how much the return in their population can benefit the world around us. A lot of our wetlands have seen a decrease on their size mainly because of development or agricultural needs. Beavers and their nicely constructed dams can play an important role in establishing and maintaining wetlands. Beaver dams can improve water quality, control flooding by slowing water movement and provide habitats suitable for many sensitive plant and animal species. These all add up to a healthier and more welcoming ecosystem for all.

The cons

It is not unusual to find the human population in conflict with beavers. We are known to overrun many wild animals and make their natural wild habitats disappear. That is why people are normally fighting with beavers over territory. Who will be the ones to get to settle the floodplains? It is always on us or them mentality when it comes to living spaces. However, there are two other major problems we have with beavers besides our land ownership disputes. Their dams can cause our property to flood where we do not want it, and beavers are known to destroy trees.

Flooding

Flooding can be a major problem for property owners, especially after an unusually heavy rain or snow. Water can become stuck behind their dams and have nowhere to go except for where we do not want it. However, beaver dams can also help us by storing water during periods of drought, and, as stated before, they can slow the movement of water from land to river systems that are normally responsible for serious floods. This decrease in movement could essentially spare you from most financial damages.

Tree damage

However, the damage beavers do to trees is most likely noticed before the damage becomes too critical, but you will probably still lose a tree or two. If you are one of the many that work in the commercial forest industry, you will find that beavers can truly hurt your bank account. In fact, beavers can be attributed to millions of dollars of timber loss annually. This can really cut into your profit margin and can cause many timber companies some serious heartache.

What can you do to ensure that you and your property stay beaver free? You need to call a certified wildlife removal company to handle the situation for you. You do not know how to safely approach this wild animal and how to ensure that they do not return.

A wildlife professional will know how to humanely trap and remove any trespassing beavers, and they will know how to ensure that they do not come back to your property. So, do yourself a favor and call in the professionals to deal with these pests.