By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Some Native Americans referred to the beaver as “the animal that talks.” Fern Asselin has another name for the animal.

For weeks, beavers have been building dams behind Asselin’s Bailey Avenue home. The dams clog a backyard stream and water floods Asselin’s lawn. So each night, he goes out and pulls apart the dams.

“For three weeks straight, I’ve been breaking up those dams,”Asselin said. “And every night, the beavers rebuild them.”

Asselin initially thought it was one or two of the animals wreaking all the havoc. He has since learned that there are closer to a dozen beavers residing in his backyard. The cohabitation is anything but friendly.

“They’ve been cutting down trees all over the place,” Asselin said. “They’ve made the stream into a lake or a pond. They do a lot of damage.”

Clearly, doing battle with a family of beavers requires expert help. Enter Henry Thayer, a professional trapper who snags animals for the state when called upon. He had caught four as of Friday by setting a catch-and-release trap in back of Asselin’s home. The latest was a 45-pound beaver snagged early Friday morning.

But Thayer has more work to do. He thought there were as many as 10 beavers still living along the stream behind Bailey Avenue.

“It starts out as just a pair,” he said. “The next year there are four more and there are four more the year after that. If you leave any of them, there are still going to be problems.”

Thayer has respect for the beavers. He knows they can figure out the 3- by 2-foot traps he sets for them. The traps are shaped like clamshells with a cover that will close down on the beaver that comes to investigate the lure. Once the animal knows what the contraption is all about, he will spread the word.

“They not only learn what it is, but they also communicate the experience to the rest of the family,” Thayer said. “That’s why the Indians called them the animal that talks.'”

The trapper plans to go back to Bailey Avenue every day until all the beavers have been removed. The problem, he said, is that sooner or later, the animals will start securing their dams with mud, which will make them much harder to pull apart.

It is indeed a resourceful and persistent foe that Asselin has found himself pitted against in a war of wits and stamina.

“It’s unbelievable,” Asselin said. “I’ve never seen so many of them in one place.”

But Thayer is as patient as the beaver is determined. He has trapped the animals in many environments. He knows their tricks and most of their secrets. Thayer fully expects that by the time his work is done, Asselin’s backyard will be beaver-free.

“I just keep catching them and then releasing them,” he said. “I release them in a more suitable location. Some place where they won’t come back.”

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