Its beaver catch time again
Beavers were the first mammal we kept at Martin Mere and they arrived in 2007. Every year we have to catch them up to check on their health and this allows us to tell you all about their weight and habits.
Over the last two nights we have started doing the autumn catch and it has gone very well.
So far we have caught mum and 3 kits which is particularly exciting as we thought we only had two kits this year! Up until last night we had only ever caught two on camera at the same time, which shows how important these catches can be.
All are doing well and recovering in their isolation pen and all seem settled and contented. We have to keep the caught beavers out of their enclosure until we have caught all of the beavers in there. Mum has maintained her weight and is exactly 25kg, a super weight and is in top condition. We are really pleased that she’s doing well, especially after rearing three kits this year.
The kits are also very healthy and weigh 5kg, 5.95kg and 7.1kg respectively. These are good weights for their age of approximately 7 months. We don’t yet know the sexes of the youngsters, but will find out when the family take a trip to the vets for their check up when we will also be getting the kits ID microchips implanted and the parents put on contraceptive implants to give mum some time off from the physical stresses of having and rearing kits.
Dad has so far remained elusive, so the catch continues but for the first nights hawl, 4 beavers ain’t bad! Fingers crossed Woody will be caught soon and the family can be re-united again.
Look out next week for a special wildlife weekly episode on the beaver catch.