Young beaver rescued in western Pennsylvania travels to Wisconsin to meet her potential mate

KDKA

By Madeline Bartos, Jessica Guay

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    Pennsylvania (KDKA) — An injured baby beaver that spent months recovering at Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh’s Wildlife Rehabilition Center was transferred to a facility more than 500 miles away and has already met another kit that wildlife rescuers hope will be her mate for life.

You could call it a special wildlife love story!

The brave baby beaver has been on quite the journey. She was only around 4 months old when the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission officers rescued her. She had been found orphaned in a park in Greenville, Mercer County in October.

“They did try to see if there’s any other beaver around, but she was also very weak, lethargic and very clearly needed human intervention, and they brought her into us!” said Katie Kefalos, Director of the HARP Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

She became the center’s first-ever beaver kit patient!

Kefalos said young beavers usually stay with their parents for up to three years. They could tell she’d been alone for quite some time she was underweight with fleas and injuries.

“She was showing signs of a pretty gnarly concussion. Then there was some damage to her eye as well. Looks like she may have gotten into some scuffle,” Kefalos said.

“First steps were to get her head trauma and her concussion under control, get her rehydrated, make sure she’s eating, things are moving on. So, we wanted her to be stable, essentially,” she added.

Once the little beaver was strong enough for surgery, their wildlife veterinarian removed her left eye to relieve her pain in January.

Their beaver team, that handled her non-medical needs, watched her grow stronger and become a busy beaver, eating and swimming!

“Her little personality started to come out,” Kefalos said.

She doubled in size to about 20 pounds! Kefalos said they knew they had to transfer her to a place that would keep raising her and give her the best shot at a future in the wild.

“We knew once everything was successful, the rest of her care just needs the support in raising her. We knew we needed to find a new facility for her to go to because this was our first beaver kit. We’re not equipped to handle that type of animal for that long of a period of time,” she said.

At the end of February, HARP’s wildlife team transported the rehabilitated beaver 10 hours to Fellow Mortals Wildlife Hospital in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin!

“They are awesome with beaver. They have great setups for them. And luckily, they had a male kit around the same age as our little girl. So, they’re getting them acclimated together now. They’re not fully together, but they’re getting them acclimated still. It’s a slow process, but the hope is that they will eventually take each other and that they will be a mated pair for life,” said Kefalos.

After forming a bond, the two beavers will be released together as a pair in Summer 2026.

Not only do beavers mate for life, but they’re also attentive and caring.

“One other fun fact is they also will be able to assess their partner. And so, the male will understand that she has a vision deficit and continue to take care of her in even more delicate way than normal,” Kefalos said.

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