The Town of Amherst will no longer trap and drown nuisance beavers in response to the public outcry against what one animal rights organization called "tax-funded torture."
At the board's meeting today, representatives with the Animal Advocates of Western New York and Animal Allies of Western New York criticized the town's "inhumane" treatment of beavers and said they would be glad to work with the town to find non-lethal methods for dealing with the tree-taking dam builders.
In response, Supervisor Barry Weinstein told the audience he was previously unaware of the beaver-killing practice, which was first reported in The Buffalo News on Aug. 12, and has spoken with the Highway Department superintendent about the matter.
"I do not feel the beavers are a problem, or that they should be harmed, and have asked Highway to leave them alone," Weinstein said to a burst of applause.
The controversy over beaver killing erupted when beavers decided to damage or take down about half a dozen "memorial trees" sponsored by residents and planted in memory of a loved one along the Amherst bike path near Ellicott Creek.
To control the damage, the Highway Department hired a contractor to set a beaver trap a few weeks ago outside a beaver den, which typically results in beavers drowning. Highway Superintendent Robert Anderson said the practice of trapping nuisance beaver has gone on for decades and predates his time as superintendent.
In response to concerned residents, however, Anderson no longer will allow beaver trapping. He also said he will meet with the two animal rights groups next week to discuss more humane alternatives, but that the flooding problems caused by beavers must be addressed. He added that he was happy to be directed to online resources from the nonprofit organization Beavers: Wetland and Wildlife by animal rights groups.
"I'm not opposed to hearing any other manners to deal with the beaver," he said, "but they have to be dealt with."
Last year, he said, the town trapped only one beaver but removed seven or eight dams. He has not yet received any information on how many beavers may have been trapped this year by the town's contractor.
Animal Advocates of Western New York, a long-standing, Amherst-based animal rights organization, pledged to make wildlife biologists and engineers available free of charge to consult with the town on effective, non-lethal beaver control methods. Representative Valerie Will said the group also has some funding available to assist with necessary purchases to help mitigate beaver damage.
With these changes, she said, "people can come to the park and think of the beauty and peace of the park and not think of the beavers struggling to get to the surface and drowning."
Morgan Dunbar of Animal Allies of Western New York, said the town needs to cease a "culture of killing."
"When we have issues of wildlife, we see that often times it seems the first thing we look at is to eradicate a species," she said. "The North American beaver is an indigenous species, and they are responsible for many of the waterways that we enjoy in our country."
She submitted a eight-page petition with more than 150 signatures asking the town to cease its nuisance trapping practice. She also said Animal Allies has a volunteer corps that would be happy to assist with any humane beaver mitigation efforts the town may undertake.
She expressed concern that the town plans to continue destroying beaver dams to keep its creeks and ditches open as a flood-prevention measure. Dam destruction results in the death of beaver young, she said, adding that there are systems that have been created to allow water to flow through dams without the dams' destruction.
Some Amherst residents who live along the water, however, say they didn't have any issue with beaver trapping. Lenora Canna, a North Forest Road resident whose property backs up to Ellicott Creek, said she had three trees worth hundreds of dollars taken down by beavers since she moved into her home 17 years ago.
She asked the town for help last year in getting rid of the beavers damaging her private property and the town refused, she said. So she began wrapping her trees in barbed wire and hired a trapper with her own money. He placed a trap out in her backyard and caught a large 55-pound beaver within a couple weeks, she said. Damage has been mitigated since then.
Canna said she's sorry the town is ending its own trapping practices. Beavers are active all year long, and have damaged both her trees and bushes, she said.
"They are a nuisance," she said. "They are a glorified rat as far as I can see."
Also Monday, the board adopted resolutions by Council Member Richard "Jay" Anderson to demand that the Williamsville toll barrier on the State Thruway be taken down, and for the Thruway Authority to account for the $6.1 million in federal money earmarked for the removal of the toll barrier back in 1998.
Village of Williamsville Mayor Brian Kulpa and Trustee Basil Piazza appeared at Monday's board meeting to support the resolutions.
The board voted unanimously to file a Freedom of Information Law requests asking for all documents detailing how that $6.1 million has been allocated.
