A beaver in a marshy area in Athens in spring 2020. Morning Sentinel photo by Rich Abrahamson Buy this Photo

For many years, Maine has considered it a felony to kill a beaver that’s become a nuisance.

That may soon change.

Lawmakers are weighing a proposal that has the support of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that would allow property owners dealing with the sometimes-troublesome rodents to wipe them out.

Trappers have always been able to take beavers for their pelts during a regulated hunting season – generally October to April – but landowners dealing with flooded waterways have had to hire animal control agents certified by the state to come and remove the tree-chomping rodents that typically weigh 40 pounds apiece.

That worked out reasonably well when beaver pelts brought $60 apiece since trappers were ready to come to their aid. But now that pelts are selling for closer to $5 each, getting somebody to assist is becoming tricky.

Dan Scott, colonel of the Maine Warden Service, said the department supports a legal change that would allow landowners or their agents to deal with nuisance beavers after they report the problem and receive a go-ahead to take action from experts.

He said the state opposes dropping all restrictions because it doesn’t want beavers to gain a reputation “of just being vermin” given their long history of receiving special treatment under the law.

Nor, he said, do they want property owners to go out “and start shooting,” leaving dead beavers floating in the ponds behind the lodges the creatures build of mud and sticks.

But there is room for a compromise between the tough line currently in the law, which makes the killing of nuisance beavers a class E felony, and simply dropping any rules at all from the books.

A Maine beaver. Photo by Michael Perry

James Cote of the Maine Trappers Association told a legislative committee that while beavers have always been considered “a prized species,” it is true that their numbers are growing and their market value shrinking.

Scott said his department had 300 beaver complaints each of the past two years after getting 255 in 2018.

Cote said trappers respect the need for landowners to be able to take action to address nuisances.

It’s an idea that doesn’t sit well with everyone.

Esther Mechler of Brunswick told the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife this week that there “is no need to kill these animals. Doing so is vicious and malicious and makes the habitat less healthy.”

She called state Rep. MaryAnne Kinney’s bill “a kill mandate and we don’t need more of that.”

Elisabeth Byers of West Chester, Pennsylvania, told lawmakers they should not allow the killing of “these incredible animals” that play an important role in the ecosystem of Maine.

“My family and I will be watching to see the decision on this piece of legislation,” she said. “Believe me, if the beaver are killed, my children, husband and I will end our summer visits to Maine.”

Kinney, a Knox Republican, said beavers can be a serious problem, citing a Washington County farmer who raises wild blueberries and has had to cope with beavers in the irrigation culverts.

State Rep. Lester Ordway, a Standish Republican, said his son has a hay field where beavers have created huge problems.

“Really, something has to be done,” Ordway said.

State Sen. Russell Black, a Wilton Republican, said he heard from two constituents last year about beaver issues. One never could get anyone to come help, he said.

Black and other legislators said moving beavers somewhere else doesn’t always work out as an alternative since they don’t stay put.

“They’re like homing pigeons,” said state Rep. Peter Lyford, an Eddington Republican. “They seem to find their way back.”