Pender residents urge Parks Canada to consider options, not kill beavers

A battle over beavers is brewing on South Pender Island where residents are vowing to save the animals from being killed.

The beavers have been building their own dams in Greenburn Lake, threatening an earthen dam constructed on part of the Gulf Island National Park Reserve, an area administered by Parks Canada.

Wendy Scholefield, a trustee with the Islands Trust, a body that protects the area, says Parks Canada put up a notice by the lake last week saying the beavers would be trapped and killed on Monday.

Scholefield says she and the other trustee for the area were also emailed about the plan, adding Parks Canada announced it without the public consultation that had been promised.

She says residents were set to stage a protest on Monday, but Parks Canada put the plan on hold until the end of the week.

Nathan Cardinal, Parks Canada’s acting superintendent for the reserve, was not available for comment.

Scholefield says she and Cardinal were to discuss other options today.

“I think people are trying to make it obvious that it’s an issue and there needs to be consultation and discussion and a better solution found rather than the quick and dirty solution that they’re proposing,” she said.

“I’m sure they had to do repairs on the dam,” she said of Parks Canada’s construction of the dam starting in August 2015 to the spring of 2016.

Scholefield said water would be flowing downhill into the community if the structure was not secure enough.