Tulalip Beaver
August 2, 2023
The PAWS team recently returned this adult female beaver to her home on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County. The injured animal was brought to PAWS Wildlife Center by tribal police after a suspected vehicle strike and spent four weeks undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. Tulalip Beaver Project biologists released the beaver with the assistance of Tulalip Tribes council member Melvin Sheldon, Jr., who has served on the tribe’s Board of Directors for over fifteen years.
Beaver dams are an important resource for other wildlife and plants in Washington state, creating nesting sites for birds and fostering the growth of shrubs where trees are cut down. While these ecosystem engineers can live up to 12 years in the wild, beavers are one of the most sought-after furbearers in North America and the population was decimated by trappers in the 1800s. Legislation protecting fur-bearing mammals and penalizing unlawful traps has helped the species to rebound across most of its historic range.