Jen Chung reports for the Gothamist

Twelve years ago, when a beaver was discovered in the Bronx River, it was a big deal because it was the first one spotted in NYC in 200 years. Now, beavers are apparently moving further downtown—because one has been discovered swimming in the Hudson River near the Upper West Side on Monday morning.

West Side Rag reported that a man walking his dog in Riverside Park noticed the beaver in the river around 71st Street, just north of Pier I. They wrote, “Ralph Stone took the photos… just after 10 a.m. as he walked his dog. He said he’s never seen beavers before in the area.”

New York City was essentially built on the back of the beaver, as beavers were plentiful in colonial New York and the fur trade fueled the city’s growth (the beaver is on the New York City’s seal). From the city’s wildlife site:

Overtrapping, deforestation, and habitat loss caused by New York’s rapid growth led to a sharp decline in their local populations over the decades. Just two centuries after European settlers first arrived, the number of beavers in New York State fell from an estimated 60 million to almost none at all. However, efforts in the early 1900s to reintroduce beavers by releasing them in the Adirondacks have been largely successful. By 1924, upstate beaver populations were thriving again. And in 2007 a beaver was spotted in the Bronx River, marking the first beaver sighting in New York City in over 200 years. Beavers are now present on Staten Island as well, and have been spotted in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The beaver is also the official New York State animal, “To provide beaver pelts to European markets in the early 1600s, fur traders settled near the present capital, Albany, to trade with Indians.”

While many consider beavers pests, because they love to chomp on trees, they have also been called an “essential ecosystem engineer,” because they can, according to a 2008 study, “create ponds and stimulate growth of diverse streamside vegetation critical for birds, including many migratory songbirds in decline.” In Washington State, a project relocated “problem beavers” to new areas to help restore the upper Yakima River Basin.

Anyway, yet another reason to rejoice in the revival of wildlife in the Hudson!

Update: The beaver was spotted in the Hudson by 59th Street just before 2 p.m.

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