A petition drive may have saved a beaver who made its home at a Northern Virginia lake.
Wally the Beaver took up residence at Kingstowne Lake in Fairfax County in September.
“I was excited, yeah,” said Andrew Berman of Friends of Kingstown Lake. “I love coming to the lake and seeing all the wildlife.”
While Wally is seldom seen, its handiwork is on display. Dozens of small trees circling the lake have been gnawed off for the lodge Wally built.
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Some worry too many small trees are being cut down, but the lake is also a storm water management facility.
“Part of what it’s supposed to do is collect sediment and to prevent erosion that goes downstream, like, to Huntley Meadows and the Potomac,” said Natalie Auer of Friends of Kingstowne Lake. “Basically, if he cuts too many trees, that will contribute to erosion on the banks of the pond.”
Wally’s fans recently learned the Kingstowne Community Association decided to trap Wally. But under Virginia law, wildlife cannot just be relocated. It has to be exterminated.
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“In this case, yes, they would have to trap it in order to remove it from the lake, and effectively, that means killing it,” Berman said.
So, Berman, Natalie and others with Friends of Kingstowne Lake launched the “Save Wally’ petition on change.org, collecting more than 2,000 signatures in a matter of days.
On Thursday, the traps were removed.
The Kingstowne Community Association sent a statement reading, in part, “After more deliberation and recognizing the strong feelings about the matter from many residents, we have decided to take a different approach … We are shifting to non-lethal mitigation strategies.”
That means things like installing wire mesh fencing around some trees and removing the dams with the hope Wally or any of its friends will relocate on their own.
“I’m very happy to hear and happy to hear, as well, that Wally is still alive,” Berman said.
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