Beaver In New Mexico's Old Town

Hikers along the Rio Grande, just a few blocks from downtown, frequently catch sight of Beaver while exploring  Albuquerque's wild life.
I have seen my share in the last thirty years.
Now you can see beavers up close in Albuquerque's Old Town:
MFBSR

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It was an odd sight at Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza Thursday morning when a beaver made it far from the river in one piece.

“It was just one of those mornings that was kind of like, ‘this is an unusual occurrence,'” Kris Nielson said, who works at Gabby’s Homemade Soaps on the plaza.

Nielson arrived at work to find a beaver curled up under the stairs outside her shop. So did Richard Padilla, who works at Old Town T-Shirt Co. just around the corner.

“I went to look, but I didn’t want to get too close,” Padilla said.

The beaver — described as weighing 50 pounds, if not more — was far from water.

“I have no idea where he tried to come from,” Nielson said.

“The river’s down about three or four blocks from here,” Padilla said.

Word of the creature got around Old Town fast, and Jason Pollack was one of several people to come see for himself. He owns DEJA VU REFINERY on the opposite side of the plaza.

“It’s been seen before by other people, so I think it lives around here,” Pollack said.

Pollack got to the beaver just in time to see Game and Fish officers tranquilize and trap the beaver. He was then loaded into a truck and taken away.

Game and Fish told KRQE News 13 the beaver will be relocated to the part of the Rio Grande closest to Old Town, so near Central.

But how did the beaver make it this far into the city?

Rather than trekking from the Rio Grande across Rio Grande Boulevard, it’s likely he took the storm drains, then got lost. Or, perhaps, he was looking for food to plump up for the winter ahead.

Both Game and Fish and the City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department told KRQE News 13 that wildlife sightings in town are very common.