Baby Beaver!
Every time I see the picture in the lobby of the three baby beavers from a few years ago drinking from their bottles, I wish we’d get a truly orphaned beaver in again (as opposed to one mistakenly taken from its family).
This morning my wish came true! A beaver kit was found on path, weak and crawling around. The finders put him under a bush so the family could come find it. After 6 hours, the kit was still there so it was brought to WRC. The kit is weak, dehydrated and has a mild upper respiratory infection. It is on treatment and hopefully will do well.
Beavers form very tight family units and the young kits spend two years with their parents learning how to survive, build dams, etc. In rehabilitation, it takes a very long time (2 years!) and is a complicated rehabilitation process to prepare kits for release. A single kit must be released with another orphan of the same age into an area that is perfect beaver habitat but is unoccupied by beavers. Sadly, even then, many of these beavers that are released don’t make it. Most likely he (like the three from a few years ago) will will be placed with an education facility or zoo to be an ambassador for wildlife.