Verdun trying to deal with menacing beavers

VERDUN — An unwelcome wild rodent is creating a lot of problems for people living and working along the banks of the St. Lawrence river in Verdun.

Beavers have destroyed hundreds of trees along the shoreline in recent years. Many tree trunks have been completely chewed away, and trees have been falling in residential areas and along popular bike paths.

“It’s a real problem with the population of the beaver all around Montreal and Quebec too,” Verdun borough mayor Jean-François Parenteau said.

Parenteau confirmed his senior officials are trying to contain the problem.

Nets will soon be installed around the base of the trees to protect them and stop beavers from getting at them.

“It’s possible the trees go down on the people and the cars,” he said.

But not everyone is convinced the borough’s solution will work.

One city councillor complained nets have been used in the past and have failed.

The borough has previously resorted to hiring a trapper and setting cages to capture the creatures, but the traps have led to beaver deaths and have killed one dog.

“I’ve requested that we no longer even consider trapping,” City councillor Sterling Downey told Global News.

The councillor wants non-lethal methods used, to guarantee the safety of the beavers while deterring them from the area.

Downey insisted wildlife experts need to be consulted.

“I think we need to speak to other specialists who know and who’ve dealt with these situations in the past,” he said from the foyer at Montreal city hall.

Parenteau said this has already been done.

Now the borough is standing by to see if the nets will deter the beavers and encourage them to move further down the shoreline.