Beloved Beavers Allowed To Stay In Gainesville Home: Report

GAINESVILLE, VA — Two petitions later, a beaver family has been spared a lethal eviction process in Gainesville, Inside NOVA reports.

Beaver papa Buc-ee, mama Miracle and youngster Chance are being allowed to stay in the lodge they built in the Wentworth Green community after neighbors rallied to save them.

According to Inside NOVA, the beavers had been marked for death when a property owner and county officials blamed their dam for blocking waterflow in a stormwater facility. But an initial attempt to lethally evict the animals was intercepted by a neighbor, and community members took action.

Resident Carly Alexiades launched a Change.org petition to save the beavers, which at the time of this publication had gathered 590 signatures.

"The Wentworth Green community needs your help in saving our beloved beaver family from being exterminated by Prince William County Public Works. They are being incorrectly blamed for clogging a storm drain," Alexiades wrote on the petition site. "It is illegal to relocate beavers in the state of Virginia; therefore, the county is planning to kill them. We were able to intervene and stop them temporarily, but we have a very short time to get the county to reconsider. … We can’t bear to see them killed! They are cherished members of our community and bring us so much joy."

Neighbor Andrea Petersen launched another petition challenging Virginia’s ban on relocating beavers, which had collected 393 signatures at the time of publication.

Petersen told Inside Nova she got a call from the owner of the property where the dam was built saying the animals would be allowed to stay.

Read more here.