Waterloo students hold memorial for beavers killed on campus

Administration hired trapper to kill the animals

ADRIAN MA CUP ONTARIO BUREAU CHIEF

WATERLOO, Ont. (CUP) — Students at the University of Waterloo held a memorial for beavers killed on campus this week.

The beavers had gnawed down several trees near walking paths over the past several months, and school officials were concerned about the safety of students and faculty. The administration hired a trapper to kill the four beavers.

Student Joanna Spencer, however, isn’t convinced the school took the best course of action.

“It kind of sickens me,” said Spencer, a 22-year-old social development student. Spencer says part of the reason she came to study in Waterloo was because she enjoyed the area’s natural environment and the animals within it.

“It’s shocking to think that a school that promotes wildlife would just promote it and take it away.” “I do understand in some situations you have to do it, but there were only four beavers.”

Martin Van Nierop, the school’s director of public affairs, said the animals were killed in the most humane way possible, and that the school had consulted with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Humane Society before deciding on the course of action.

Jessica Walker, an environmental studies student, thinks the administration should have consulted the campus community as well.

“If there was notification of the problem to the students and professors, another solution may have been found,” said Walker.

Walker said ecological problems are discussed in her classes all the time, including the beaver situation.

“Many students had great alternative ideas, such as using chicken wire along the bottoms of the potential trees to deter the beavers,” she said. “These alternatives may have been looked [at], but how are the students to know?”

“I think a lot of people are still wondering why the school felt that there was no necessity for the campus community to know about the situation.”

Van Nierop said one option was to relocate the beavers, but after discussing the possibility with the Humane Society, the university learned that moving the beavers “could have caused them to starve or be attacked by other beavers already in the area.”

The university is now feeling the backlash. In addition to the Nov. 21 memorial service, several of the school’s alumni have called expressing their concern and said they are reconsidering donating to the school, said Van Nierop.

The York University Animal Rights Group is also criticizing the decision. “This is inexcusable behaviour that will indefinitely damage the university’s former outstanding reputation among citizens and animal rights advocates alike,” said Nicole Simone Dente, a spokeswoman for the Toronto campus group.

“We strongly recommend the university make amends by making a substantial donation to a Canadian wildlife federation, such as the Canadian Wildlife Federation or Animal Alliance of Canada.”

An internal e-mail is currently circulating among university staff to assist them in dealing with the “unwanted attention.”

The memo, obtained by the Canadian University Press, states that the school had explored other options, including covering up the trees by their water sources and leaving the beavers alone.

The memo also says the school used a licensed trapper and that, “contrary to reports and misinformation,” the trapper did not drown the beavers.

The animals were killed in a conibear trap, a box that is set so the beavers swim through it. The sides of the trap come down onto the back of the beaver’s neck, breaking the spine.