Rescued Beaver Uses Household Items To Build Adorable Dams

Doing what beavers do, this little rescued beaver, “Justin Beaver” began building adorable dams in his rescuer's home. Orphaned when he was just 8 weeks old, JB, as he’s known, lives with a wildlife rehabilitator at Second Chances Wildlife Center in Kentucky. We love this furry guy!

Beavers typically live with their parents for the first two years of their life. First they learn beaver life skills and then they help their parents raise their siblings. These two years are crucial for beavers to gain much needed survival skills. Because JB didn’t received this training, he never really learned how to be a beaver. He lacks the skills required to live in the wild and cannot be released. Now JB is earning his keep as a “educational animal” who travels to schools, libraries and community centers as a wildlife ambassador. Justin Beaver lives with an unusual brood of about 250 animals including squirrels, possums, foxes and groundhogs. His current indoor housemates are an armadillo and two skunks!

Some skills JB didn’t need to be taught however, they were instinctual. Being cranky at meal time, chewing up the furniture, and of course, building dams! It didn’t take long before wildlife director, Brigette Brouillard, began noticing her bathroom mats and other missing items reappearing in piles around her house. This busy beaver was determined to have the best dam he could muster! If that meant collecting shoes, toys, or even laptops, JB was up to the task!

Knowing that JB needed a better enrichment area, complete with a pond of his own, Brouillard has been raising additional funds to create a new outdoor habitat for “The Beav”. Hopefully this new habitat at Second Chances will be just what JB needs to live out his beaver days which could be quite a while as beavers are known to live for 25 years in captivity! That’s a lot of time to perfect a dam!