Beavers are the largest rodents in Illinois. Most people know they eat wood and build dams. Fewer know how expensive a beaver problem can get.
How to identify beavers
Beavers are typically 3 to 4 feet long and generally weigh 40 to 90 pounds. Their fur is reddish brown to blackish brown, and their flat tail is covered in dark, leathery scales. Their hind legs are longer than their front legs, and their hind feet are webbed for swimming.
Their large front teeth are orange to red, and those incisors are what let them chew through trees.
The damage they do
A beaver’s diet revolves around bark and vegetation: willow, birch, poplar, beech and oak, plus water lilies and cattails. They chew down trees to build lodges and stockpile food, which can mean costly tree loss, dammed or clogged drainage ditches and flooding.
Check your local rules
Some municipalities require property owners to replace trees downed by beavers. Schaumburg does, for example, and depending on the number of trees that can mean thousands of dollars.
How we handle beavers
Beaver removal is best left to professionals. Once a colony is established it’s tough to control: their habitat is hard to reach, the State of Illinois restricts where traps can go, and pulling out dams or lodges rarely works because the colony rebuilds quickly. Trapping has to catch every beaver in the colony.
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