I would like to comment on the article "Group aims to reduce trapping," Observer, Feb. 13, 2014.
Leslie Fox claims that installing a pipe in a beaver dam will force the beavers to relocate. This is true, but if the beaver moves doesn't this essentially become someone else's problem? And should the municipality (a.k.a taxpayer) be required to pay $300-$800 for each beaver dam pipe installation when a trapper can remove the beavers at a fraction of the cost?
Beavers are rodents and as such prolific breeders; at what point does co-habitation become unrealistic? Some propose relocation, but moving live beavers is costly and introducing them into another's beavers territory is fatal - the resident population will kill the already confused and disoriented intruder. Is this a humane alternative?
So EXACTLY how does Ms. Fox's organization propose farmers "co-habitate" with coyotes? How much will it cost to relocate them, and who would pay for it? And is this again only moving the problem elsewhere?
R.S. Dunlop
Carleton Place, ON