A beaver seems to have moved in Harbourfront and is gnawing on local street trees, Canada Reviews

A picture of a tree stripped of its bark alongside a sidewalk by the Toronto Harbourfront has Redditors debating about who’s responsible for such butchery, with a beaver being the top suspect.

“Did a beaver cause this in Downtown Toronto?” A Redditor asked in a now-viral post on the Toronto subreddit on Tuesday. The picture shows wood shavings scattered around a stripped-off tree base, bearing characteristic marks typically left by beavers when they gnaw at tree trunks.

Did a beaver cause this in Downtown Toronto?
byu/raffaelheavan intoronto

“That is 100% beaver. Lived with beavers in my yard for years. Great animals even though people hate their damage” one user stated. Other users shared links to videos of beavers spotted around the waterfront in recent months.

One beaver was seen crawling slowly along the pavement by the Harbourfront a few months ago, leading some to question if it was sick (as it turns out, beavers are just slow on land).

Another video from earlier this year shows a beaver nonchalantly dragging a large, leafless tree by Queens Quay near York St (ironically, near the Beaver Tails stand), possibly heading toward its dam below the boardwalk.

A particularly huge waterfront beaver was spotted on May 3 during the annual Jane’s Walk event, near the eastern edge of the Music Garden at Queens Quay W and Lower Spadina.

“He looks like a giant overgrown Guinea pig lol,” a Redditor commented.

Did a beaver cause this in Downtown Toronto?
byu/raffaelheavan intoronto

No word on whether the most recent tree damage was caused by wildlife, or, perhaps, some sort of ecological study, but Redditors have theories about the recent uptick in beaver sightings.

“Beavers fled the Ontario Place destruction and have been seen along the waterfront,” one Reddit user stated, with hundreds of upvotes.

This theory isn’t far-fetched. In recent months, hundreds of mature trees were cut down at Ontario Place’s West Island to prepare for the construction of a private mega-spa (the project involves cutting down 850 trees and dumping 10 acres of fill around the shoreline to expand the island).  This has led to distressed birds circling the forest destruction at the site and is possibly leading to other wildlife being displaced (West Island is home to about 190 bird species, as well as foxes, minks, and beavers).

While beavers have been spotted along the waterfront for years, as the Ontario Place redevelopment moves forward, reports suggest that we’ll likely spot more wildlife being displaced (so, perhaps keep an eye out for more gnawed tree posts on Reddit in the coming months).