Nature
PUBLISHED
1
It’s not every day you see the words “beaver” and “legal battle” in the same sentence. Then again, a situation that involves a rescued beaver named Nibi, a court case between a Massachusetts wildlife rescue center and the state’s wildlife division, and intervention from politicians, is far from “every day”.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The story begins in 2022, when a week-old female beaver was found on a roadside in Massachusetts. At the time, wildlife rehabilitators from the nearby Newhouse Wildlife Rescue attempted to reunite her with a group of beavers found close by.
Unsuccessful, the baby beaver was taken to the rescue center and named Nibi. Under normal circumstances, the goal is to provide rescued animals with the treatment that they need whilst minimizing human contact, so that they can be successfully released back into the wild.
With beavers being social animals, rehabilitators aim to keep them with other orphaned beavers if they can – but with no orphaned beavers in New England at the time, Nibi had some human interaction out of concern for her welfare.
According to court documents, several later attempts to reintroduce Nibi into the wild and to other beavers were unsuccessful, with the rescue group attributing this to Nibi having been found at an age before she could develop the instincts for survival in the wild.
However, in June 2024, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) told Newhouse Wildlife Rescue that now Nibi is healthy, the beaver had to be released, with a date set for the beginning of October.
The rescue center argued that it would be dangerous to do so, citing concerns that Nibi was not acclimatized to the wild, and that her chances of survival would be low this close to winter. An emergency injunction to stop the release was filed, which succeeded, and the wait for a hearing over the matter began.
In the meantime, having become something of a social media star even before her legal troubles began, Nibi’s case garnered widespread attention, both from the public – who started a petition – and politicians.
But before the hearing could happen, one of those politicians stepped in: Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.
“Nibi has captured the hearts of many of our residents, mine included,” said Healey in a statement. “We’re excited to share that we have issued a permit for Nibi to remain in Newhouse’s care, continuing to educate the public about this important species.”
Responding to the news in a social media post, Newhouse Wildlife Rescue said: “This was not about making a wild animal a pet[…] This was about speaking for a creature who could not speak for herself.”
Depending on how things pan out, Nibi may still be released into the wild in the future. For now, however, Nibi is set to begin dipping her feet into her new role as an educational ambassador later this week – interspersed with plenty of naps and apples, of course.
