Unwanted guests temporarily took up residence at Parker Park last week, but they've been evicted.
As of July 13, a total of three beavers were removed from the family-friendly park, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR). A live trap sign was posted near the beginning of the Range Lake trail at the northern end of the park.
“Two beavers have been captured and relocated from Range Lake – one Wednesday and one yesterday. They have been released in the wild outside of the City of Yellowknife jurisdiction,” stated Dawn Curtis, a spokesperson with ENR, in an email. She later updated The Yellowknifer that a third beaver was caught Friday morning.
Curtis stated that all of the debris from the beavers' dam has now been removed and that the animals caused no permanent damage. Nevertheless, the Yellowknife Slo-Pitch league was forced to cancel a number of games due to flooding in one of the diamonds. Games were still cancelled this week and the league is hoping to resume its regular schedule as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the legislative assembly issued a statement on Friday declaring that beavers “are creating a problem” around the legislature and at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.
“Beavers are removing trees from the capital site area to create dams. (This) has caused flooding, which has the potential to cause infrastructural damage to both buildings,” stated the assembly's Office of the Clerk.
As of press time, Danielle Mager, a spokesperson for the Office of the Clerk, said no beavers had been nabbed at the capital area site.
“There were no beavers caught in the live traps around the legislature. We are speculating that people in the public have been tampering with the traps and releasing them,” said Mager.
She requested that the public leave alone any traps that they may find. She said live traps are the safest way to relocate the animals to a safe area.
“Rather than helping animals by releasing them they are doing more harm than good,” said Mager.