Beaver Trapping Update

According to the latest email from the HOA Board, three beavers and one nutria have been trapped and relocated from our creek area. Here is my response to that email.

Dear Board and Homeowners/Residents:

Just to dispel a couple of myths in the latest email from the board:

• According to the CDC, "[a]lthough rodents are not a wildlife reservoir for rabies virus and no rabies transmission from rodents to humans has been documented."
• Again, according to the CDC, Lyme disease is only transmitted through ticks, which have attached themselves to host animals (including humans). (See also this link.)

Secondly, I'm sure Cliff Moore does a great job, but does anyone else see the irony of including a document describing the problems of beavers and nutria from a man who makes his living from removing them. To me it is the equivalent of a child writing that candy and soda are good for you.

Third, I have read the mitigation plan, in fact I'd say I'm fairly intimate with it, and the first priority of the plan is to protect the wildlife that exists with in the area, which is why we are required to plant trees (for the benefit of the wildlife that exists, and will exist in that area). Protecting our neighbors from street noise - the last time I looked - was not a requirement under our plan.

Given that I believe that the removal of beaver is a violation of the mitigation plan, I intend to submit an official complaint about the actions of the board to the federal and state agencies that monitor violations under the Clean Water Act 1972.

Regards,
James Nunn