A baby beaver, or kit, is settling into its new home at the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society after being orphaned.
"A member of the public saw this baby beaver wandering around on the banks of a river. There were no parents to be seen and the baby was crying,” said Andrea Hunt, executive director of the non-profit organization. “The lodge near where it was found was damaged so we suspect something happened to the lodge and either the parents were injured or killed or got scared away.”
The baby is believed to be about two weeks old and it's not clear at this point if it is a female or male.
“With beavers you can’t just tell from visually examining them whether or not they’re male or female. With this guy we could do an x-ray but it’s not medically necessary at this point so there’s no point in subjecting the animal to that."
The beaver will stay at the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society for up to two years; the lengths of time kits usually stay with their parents in the wild.
The centre doesn’t normally take in beavers, but it did assist two following the 2013 flood. Hunt said those animals were successfully returned to the wild, and it’s hoped this one will too. ‘We are just going to provide him with the proper nutrition and the right habitat for him to grow in and he’s just going to do what beavers do.”
The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society is asking people to call their hotline if they come across an injured or abandoned animal at 403-214-1312
