Beavers won't take a break from building

ST. LOUIS -- Some sharp-toothed beavers in St. Louis County could teach a thing or two about the work ethic. So far, the critters with a big overbite are winning a struggle with a suburban developer.

The beavers have built a dam in a west St. Louis County creek across from a suburban business district. It's created a logjam that has backed up water 30 inches deep in some spots.

"A crew of men came by here last fall and took out their dam. The beavers had it almost completely rebuilt by the next morning," said Jim Hellweg, manager of a transmission shop that borders the creek.

Hellweg likes the beavers and thinks they're amazing.

But Geoff Daniels, owner of a shopping center across from the transmission shop, thinks it's worrisome.

"My concern was that the waters might back up and start eroding my bank around my shopping center," Daniels told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Last fall, Daniels got a crew to clear the dam out of the creek twice. But the persistent beavers rebuilt.

Meanwhile, Hellweg changed the sign outside his shop from a price list to a message: "Help Us Save the Beavers." The sign attracted a botanist, some teachers and residents of a nearby subdivision, who said the beavers weren't bothering them.

Usually move on

Hellweg also enlisted Jackie Siegal, director of the Wildlife Rescue Center, who instructed Daniels on the habits of beavers.

"I explained to Mr. Daniels that I didn't think the water level of the creek could ever get to a point where it threatened the bank of the shopping mall, based just on what the beavers had built," Siegal said. "I also told him that beavers usually move on."

It was either that or attempt a forcible relocation. The Missouri Conservation Department allows owners of property threatened by wildlife to remove them by any means permitted by local ordinances.

"I'm told they usually stay in a place six months, give or take a month," Daniels said, adding that he'll put up with them, but only for awhile.

Hellweg said he's worried that Daniels might try to trap the animals, but the shopping center owner said that his approach would be to hire a crew to place piping in the creek to channel water under the beaver dam.

For now, Hellweg is leaving his sign in place while drumming up public support in case he needs it. Daniels just hopes the beavers will leave on their own, as he's been told to expect.

"They felled a huge tree on my neighbor's fence," he said. "When I saw it, I said the same thing as everybody else: That's amazing."