Boston’s beloved beaver Nibi faces winter release dilemma

Newhouse Wildlife rescue is fighting to keep Nibi the Beaver safe. Photo / @newhousewildliferescue Instagram

• Nibi, a beaver rescued in 2022, faces potential release back into the wild by MassWildlife.
• Rescue founder Jane Newhouse argues Nibi is unprepared for winter release and has tried to bond her with another beaver.
• Nibi’s case has sparked public support, a petition, and attention from local politicians and Governor Maura Healey.

Nibi, a furry female beaver taken in by wildlife rescuers, has become a household name in Boston – and now her future is set to be determined in a court case that has made national headlines and garnered the attention of the state governor.

The nocturnal mammal was found orphaned in 2022 by a roadside. At the time, she was just a week old, weighing 450g, said Newhouse Wildlife Rescue in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, which took her in.

Since then, she has flourished there, and the rescue centre’s founder, Jane Newhouse, jokes Nibi is “spoiled rotten” and “a diva”.

“I love her, and … many people have fallen in love with Nibi,” Newhouse said in a video posted on Facebook this week.

Nibi’s future there is uncertain because MassWildlife, the state’s division of fisheries and wildlife, is arguing that Nibi, as a healthy animal, must be released back into the wild.

“Wild animals like this one belong in the wild,” MassWildlife said earlier in a statement cited by CBS News. “The role of licensed wildlife rehabilitators is to care for sick and injured wildlife so that animals can be released back into the wild as soon as possible … in accordance with their permit and state regulations.”

Newhouse has argued that the rescue centre has tried – and failed – to prepare Nibi for life in the wild, and that it would be dangerous to release her during the winter months.

They struggled to find a fellow beaver for Nibi to bond with when she was a baby, she added.

“When Nibi was found … there were no other orphaned beavers in rehab in all of New England,” Newhouse said. The options were to leave her in a cage alone or to interact with her, she added, which the team opted to do.

Beavers like Nibi are extremely “sensitive, emotional, family-orientated animals,” Newhouse said, and it would have been “absolutely cruel” to leave her alone. Her care involved grooming, bottle feeds and playing with sticks, Newhouse said in a Facebook post this year.

“We tried as hard as we could to get this beaver used to being out in the open,” Newhouse said in the video posted on Facebook. “… The goal is always to keep them wild and not to get them used to people.”

After five months, the centre was successful at locating another similar-aged beaver and the team “tried so hard to get these beavers to know each other”, Newhouse said. “Well, Nibi wanted nothing to do with this other beaver.”

MassWildlife was due to remove the beaver earlier this week from the rescue centre and release her into the wild, but the centre instructed lawyers to file an emergency injunction, which was successful on Tuesday. A further hearing is scheduled for Friday, they said, to determine Nibi’s fate. The centre had previously attempted to have her designated as an educational animal, so she could be taken to schools and libraries, but was unsuccessful.

Nibi’s case has sparked a public petition and attracted immense attention across Massachusetts – and even succeeded in uniting local politicians across the aisle.

State Representative Rodney Elliott (D) attended the court hearing to show support for the rescue centre following requests from his constituents, while state Representative Marc Lombardo (R) wrote to the governor, saying: “I am deeply concerned that a release back to the wild at this time of the year is ill-conceived and will put the animal’s life in danger.”

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) has also spoken out, telling NBC10 Boston this week: “We’re going to do everything we can to protect Nibi,” adding that she appreciated those on both sides working to protect wildlife.

Adam Teper, an attorney representing Nibi’s rescuers, told the Associated Press: “To literally see people from around the world come together to protect this beaver is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life.”

MassWildlife told NBC10 Boston that releasing wild animals “back into their natural habitat enables them to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to the ecosystem”.

North American beavers like Nibi are “semiaquatic ecosystem engineers”, constructing dams with their chisel-shaped incisors used to cut and gnaw at branches and trees, according to the National Park Service. They are also the second-largest rodent in the world behind the capybara of South America, it said.

The animals live on a herbivore diet of leaves, twigs and bark and can typically live 10 to 12 years, with muscular bodies and reddish-brown coarse fur to repel dirt and water. They are excellent diggers and swimmers, the Forest Service said, because of their webbed hindfeet and flat tails.

“Nibi had only ever known people. We didn’t want it to be that way, but that was the situation,” Newhouse wrote online. “… We will not release an animal that we don’t believe can make it out in the wild.”