Animal and environmental advocates have given beavers in Orange, Vermont, a second chance at life — while also protecting the area from flooding — with the installation of a ‘beaver deceiver’ flow device, according to an In Defense of Animals’ (IDA) media release.
The device, which was installed by Beaver Deceivers LLC and primarily funded by IDA, helps control water levels, prevents flooding damage to roads and culverts, and lets beavers stay in their natural environment.
This lifesaving project marks a shift away from the area’s grim history of underwater trapping — a method that could leave beavers suffering for as long as nine minutes before they drowned — and comes in the wake of the 2023 floods that brought widespread destruction to Vermont.
Additionally, the ‘beaver deceiver’ cost just $4,000, far less than the $13,000 the state spent on killing beavers and destroying their dam at that very site.
“Beavers are powerful ecosystem protectors — not pests,” IDA’s Wild Animals Campaigner Katie Nolan said. “Instead of destroying their dams and killing them, we now have the opportunity to protect human infrastructure and beaver lives at the same time.”
These incredible animals deserve to live free from the threat of drowning in traps, and we hope this project encourages more communities to embrace coexistence through compassion and ingenuity.
