It’s a dam problem: should the City of Hamilton kill beavers?

Preventing beaver damage is becoming a dam problem in Hamilton.

Residents complain to the city when a beaver dam washes out a road or damages property, spurring municipal staffers to battle Canada's national animal with strategic fencing, creative culvert protection or just regular stick-stealing visits.

But if all that fails, provincial law allows the city to hire a licensed trapper to kill the road-flooding rodent - an increasingly controversial solution used for three beavers this year so far.

With dam-related flooding concerns cropping up this year from Stoney Creek to the west end to Glanbrook, the city is working on a wildlife protection protocol" that should clear up when - or if - deadly force should be used on Castor canadensis.

Adrian Firth figures the city should ban beaver-trapping altogether.

The rural Dundas resident led what she jokingly calls a community uprising" after area residents found a city-contracted trapper pulling a dead beaver out of a marsh near Mineral Springs Road last year.

Firth and more than a dozen neighbours protested, demanding the city find a non-lethal way to deal with periodic road flooding caused by a busy beaver repeatedly stuffing a culvert with mud and sticks.

I think it is just crazy," she told The Spectator at the time. Killing these animals is really the best solution they could come up with?"

Hamilton is not the only community facing a demand for alternatives. Burlington does not use lethal trapping for beavers, while Aurora recently suspended the practice in its stormwater ponds. The Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre is calling on that city to stop killing the animals.

On Mineral Springs Road, the city relented and yanked the traps - but warned it might have to close the gravel road periodically for beaver-related flooding.

Similar concerns about flooding arose this spring in Ainslie Wood after beavers set up shop in a small creek behind Delbrook Court. Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson said she urged city staff to monitor," rather than get rid of the determined dam-builders that chewed through 50 trees along the tiny watercourse.

Our goal should be to coexist wherever possible," said Wilson, who added it shouldn't be up to individual councillors or city departments to decide a beaver's fate. Depending on where a beaver builds, it could become the responsibility of Hamilton's water, roads or parks department.

We should have a city-wide policy ... that holds us accountable."

The updated protocol - which will cover more animals than just beavers - isn't ready for public viewing yet.

But in general, the city is committed to using lethal traps as a last resort," said Dave Alberton, a Hamilton water manager. We want to protect wildlife; that is very important to us," he said. But we also have to protect public health, property and infrastructure."

Alberton said the three beavers killed this year built a massive 60-foot dam across Davis Creek, an east-end watercourse that flows under a steep embankment near Hixon Road. The city was worried the dam would spur storm flooding that would undermine" the slope beneath area homes. (The city has already purchased and knocked down two homes on Hixon because of creeping erosion.)

So why not just get rid of the dam, or relocate the beavers?

Provincial rules actually forbid the relocation of wildlife more than a kilometre from where it is found and the city sometimes dismantles beaver blockades only to see them quickly return, said Alberton.

Still, he stressed the city is happy to keep an eye on" most beaver hot spots, including half a dozen dams in local creeks and stormwater ponds. In most cases we just monitor to ensure there is no risk," he said.

Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com