Dear Glenview Beavers Fan Club members--
I know that passions are running very high right now. We have had to delete a few posts that were inflammatory toward the Village of Glenview and therefore are counterproductive toward our goals. I also have turned on the controls so that administrators need to approve posts.
I'm not going to pretend that the beavers aren't in a difficult situation right now. Earlier today, the Concord at the Glen HOA declined our proposal and let us know they were unwilling to meet with us to discuss it. Then the beavers' den was accidentally destroyed today by the Village while workers were clearing out culverts and other water access points. A Village of Glenview employee just met me and Jackie by the pond to sift through the remnants of the den and make sure that there were no kits in the rubble. I understand that the Village is planning to put out a statement.
The female beaver is likely pregnant and doesn't have protection from the elements and from predators. But wildlife are resilient and we have to hope that they will be OK. We asked the president of the HOA Board, Patrick Evans, if we could drop off branches for the beavers to rebuild or supply some sort of dog house that the beavers could use temporarily, given the beavers' current situation, but he said no. If any member of the HOA Board has an alternate understanding of what has happened today, they are more than welcome to reach out to me or to post on this post.
ETA: We have reached out a second time about the branches and are waiting to hear back.
Obviously we are very disappointed. Tomorrow we will send out a press release to the media, including our written proposal, so that the public understands that the HOA declined our offer of free trees and free labor to plant them, instead informing its homeowners that they are going to replant the trees themselves and protect them. This likely means that the beavers will need to relocate by late summer when it comes time to start preparations for the winter.
We have reached out to the Village of Glenview and to the Glenview Park District and asked to meet with them to discuss some of the techniques that other states use to remediate beaver problems, in the hopes that we can get both entities to pledge to not trap and kill beavers on their properties. This may be the best we can do for our Glenview beavers now.
I want to tell you guys how much I appreciate our Glenview Beavers Fan Club community for stepping up and showing how much the public is interested in wildlife. I am so appreciative of the garden centers that agreed to provide us with trees below cost, and the service organizations like the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts and Gratitude Generation who expressed interest in planting them. I think we have demonstrated that most people care about wildlife and learning how to live with them.
As you can see from our website, www.glenviewbeaversfanclub.com, there is still a lot of work to do, data to gather, relationships to form, and minds to open. This was a bad day but we will keep an eye on the beavers and hope for the best.
ETA: The village had absolutely nothing to gain by taking apart the den. The beavers were on private land and it wasn’t their problem and they had no reason to make it their problem. I understand why people are skeptical but I truly believe it was not done maliciously.