Happy Ending

Beavers really like chopped apples and squash.  Especially apples.  We were worried that our beaver was too sick to eat, so our Center Director found the most succulent apples and the yellowest squash in the market.  We chopped it all into bite-size bits and then pondered how to feed a beaver - ?  We decided to put a few bits near her long, sensitive nose and just see what happened.  She was well enough now that when anyone came into her room, she would open her eyes and follow them.  But she stayed quite still.  Her paws were still tucked up close to her chin and she lay partway on her side.  It must have been the most comfortable position for the healing wounds on her back.  More about them in a minute.  
We placed a few bits of apple and squash near her nose and stepped back.  At first, nothing.  Then, slowly, slowly, that nose began to twitch.  She tried to focus her eyes on what smelled so good, but the food was too close.  More sniffing.  Then, again, slowly, one paw moved just enough to guide a bit of apple into her mouth.  If a beaver can have a look of pleasure on her face, this one did.  I don't think we imagined it, although we were that relieved she would eat.   It was a slow, ruminative process, but we were glad to provide a steady stream of apples and squash over a few hours' time until she was finally satisfied. 

One major hurdle taken care of.  However, she wouldn't get enough fluid from apples and squash to adequately rehydrate her body.  Once rehydrated, we might keep up with her, but she needed an initial boost.  I was elected to  place a large bore needle in the nape of her neck (supposedly loose skin there) in order to infuse some IV fluid.  I selected a one inch eighteen-gauge needle, short and strong.   I gently grasped her neck skin and  moved to pierce it with the needle.  It glanced off.   Beavers have incredibly thick skin.  Like armor.  It took me several tries before I was able to get the  needle into a space where the fluid would flow.   Again, she patiently endured our treatments.  She winced and squeaked, but once the fluid was running, she was quiet and cooperative.

Her wounds required drainage and antibiotic care.  Working together, two of us would gently apply pressure to the wounds and clean the drainage from her back.  It had to be very painful. 

This was the routine for about a month,  until the Director felt that she was healed  enough for the next step.  Her wounds had closed and she was moving about.  She needed to be in water in order to maintain muscle function.

One of the volunteers has a small pond and stream on her property, as well as a clean, empty shed.  So we had moving day, putting the beaver in a large blanketed enclosure in the back of Cheryl's car.  We waved goodbye, knowing that we had experienced something quite special with this mammal.
We were anxious for reports and Cheryl called in  the next day to say that she had taken the beaver from the car into the shed via wheelbarrow and left her there with some chopped apples for the night. 
Early the next morning she had planned to swim her in the pond.  Another hurdle. How to get her to the pond which was a distance of about fifty feet.  The beaver didn't want to move out of the shed, although she was able.

Ingenious Cheryl cut up an apple and placed it in the wheelbarrow.  No choice but to climb in, (the barrow was tilted to the ground) if she wanted that apple.  So, in she climbed.   Cheryl reported that she looked like a queen, sitting regally in the wheelbarrow, holding apple bits to her mouth as she pushed her to the water.  Cheryl  would gently tip the barrow and the beaver would slide out into the cool, clean pond for a swim.

We were worried that once free, she would swim away.  Not so.  She would wait for the barrow with its reward of apples each day, and climb in for her ride to the shed.   This went on for another month until she was strong and healed.

Eventually she was moved to Eastern Oregon, to an isolated, gently flowing river. I hope she is there to this day, chewing twigs and having baby beavers.

We never knew what caused the injuries to her back.  The river near where she was found was deep enough for small boats, so it could be that a rudder caught her before she could dive.  They were cruel wounds, though.

I'll never forget her gentle acceptance of our care.  This isn't meant to be an anti-fur rant, but I think of this quiet, ruminative creature with one of those ingeniously made, slender paws caught in a trap.  I think of that squeaky moan when we caused her pain.   Enough said.