SUN JOURNAL • March 16, 2021
For many years, Maine has considered it a felony to kill a beaver that’s become a nuisance. That may soon change. Lawmakers are weighing a proposal that has the support of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that would allow property owners dealing with the sometimes-troublesome rodents to wipe them out. Esther Mechler of Brunswick told the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife this week that there “is no need to kill these animals. Doing so is vicious and malicious and makes the habitat less healthy.” Republican legislators said moving beavers somewhere else doesn’t always work out as an alternative since they don’t stay put.