Lone-Beaver Theory in Tree Deaths Is Now Shaky

Cherry tree gazers out for a moonlight walk Wednesday night made an amazing discovery: Pausing to look into the dark waters of the Tidal Basin, they saw two beavers noisily crunching on some twigs. The surprising find casts doubt on the National Park Service claim that only one beaver, working alone, had destroyed nine trees in the last week.

Stephen and Urath Hall of Arlington, Va., and their son Peter know two beavers when they see them. They hailed two U.S. Park Police officers passing by and joined them on the bridge. All five stared at the two shiny black heads in the water. One officer shined his flashlight on the beavers, who chose to ignore him.

“We’ve made visual contact and there’s not one but two,” an officer said into his shoulder mike. Soon, two more cars arrived, and then all four officers stared.

The Hall family stuck around for an hour, waiting to see what the police would do.

“They didn’t have any traps,” a disappointed Stephen Hall said. “They didn’t do anything.”

Experts on beavers say the two in the basin are probably a mating pair. If so, there may be babies to follow.

Crews have begun wrapping the targeted trees in plastic or wire to discourage the beavers.

Park Service biology technician Julia Long hopes the rodent couple will simply move now that their favorite food is harder to get. They have been given until Monday. On Thursday night, Park Service spokesman Earle Kittleman said a $1,500 contract had been signed with a local company to humanely trap and remove the beavers after that time.