MUKWONAGO -- The Village of Mukwonago hopes someone from the public will step up or they will have to kill a family of beavers.
According to the village, a beaver dam is putting the nearby rivers at risk. So far, they have not found anywhere to move the animals.
The area by the Walmart and Home Depot just off I-43 are seeing flooded fields. The village said it’s because a family of beavers built a dam in a creek near East Wolf Run.
It is not just causing flooding in the nearby fields, the village is worried about the stormwater retention ponds.
Mukwonago Village Administrator John Weidl says the water is getting close to spilling out of the fields and making its way to the ponds. Those ponds are filled with contaminated water.
“As this flooding continues to encroach and move up it’s going to spill into this pond and as the clean water goes into the pond it’s going to push all of what is in there out,” said Weidl.
If the retention ponds flood, Weidl said the area waterways at risk.
“It’s going to put impure, untreated water into the Mukwonago and Fox River system,” said Weidl.
The solution approved by the village board is to get rid of the beavers -- that includes trapping and killing them.
According to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wildlife supervisor Natanya Hayden, it is legal for the village to do. But the DNR has given them several options.
“You can trap and relocate the animal with live traps. There are also abatement options available,” said Hayden.
The DNR warns beavers cannot just be put anywhere if they are trapped and relocated. They must go into the right environment or they will likely die.
According to Weidl, the village is not allowed to move the beavers to other public lands. So they don’t know who would take them.
“Our first choice would be to find a place to relocate these animals,” said Weidl. “If not they are going to be trapped as they are going to be euthanized.”
The village hopes someone with a farm or large property will volunteer to take the beavers. Otherwise, they say the animals will be killed in the next few weeks.
