HOA Kills Established Beaver Family

Even though it was legal, posting photos of the dead beavers isn’t the way to win friends and create a great name for your HOA. It’s a great way to alienate your HOA from the rest of the community.

Fairfield Plantation HOA of Stallings, North Carolina, hired a trapper to kill a family of 6 beavers that had resided in the area for several years. The HOA president Larry Evans referred to these beavers as criminals, using the term they had been “apprehended” (nice way to say slaughtered) and that HOA members could see the “mug shots” of the (dead) beavers on the HOA site (now removed).

North Carolina appears to have a healthy population of beavers after their overhunting in 1930s. Reintroduction programs between 1939 and 1956 have brought the population back enough for an extended hunting season to be allowed on beavers.

But at the end of the day, it’s the callous action of the HOA board in failing to realize that a population of beavers, established for several years, is a part of the community. Given that, there were a multitude of other options – including berm building and other activities – that could have let the beavers continue to inhabit and contribute to the community.

With the world of Twitter, Blogs, and other tools of social media – handling this issue so poorly will (justifiably) continue to haunt the Fairfield Plantation HOA and Larry Evans for years or even decades to come. The posting of the pictures, the reference to animals acting naturally as criminals, that’s beyond the pale of proper decorum, civility, and humanity. If one cannot show restraint with the culling of beavers, why show compassion or decency anywhere else in one’s home or business dealings.

Plus, I’m Canadian, so that’s our national symbol your killing.