Saving Beavers with Deceivers 

Because of your generosity, we built with wire, pipe, and a whole lot of compassion, a simple and clever device called a Beaver Deceiver. It is giving beavers and people a way to live together in peace. 

A beaver deceiver may look like ordinary equipment, but its impact is anything but ordinary. When installed correctly, it lets humans gently regulate water levels in wetlands and ponds—keeping fields from flooding while allowing beavers to stay in the homes they’ve built stick by stick. By preventing conflict before it begins, these systems spare beavers from being drowned, trapped, or killed by other means, which is still the default response on most properties when beavers move in. 

The device works by shielding existing water-control structures with sturdy wire caging and adding pipes that quietly release water at a level acceptable to landowners—without alerting the beavers. Beavers are brilliant engineers, but they cannot detect this slow, silent flow. Without the sound of rushing water or the feel of a strong current to trigger their instinct to “fix” the leak, they simply continue their work. 

And their work matters! Beavers are nature’s architects—restoring wetlands, slowing stormwater, filtering pollution, and creating habitat for countless species. They build resilience into the landscape in ways humans struggle to replicate. Yet these same animals are often killed for doing the job that nature designed them to do. 

Your support changes that story. 

Thanks to you, we can often install inexpensive deceiver systems that give landowners a humane alternative. You help us show property owners that coexistence is not only possible—it’s practical, affordable, and profoundly beneficial to the land. 

Because of you, beavers on the Eastern Shore can remain safely in their mud‑and‑wood lodges, raising their kits, and tending the wetlands that keep our region healthy. Another beaver family gets to stay together, and our habitat is a little healthier and a lot more hopeful. 

Supporting CWH helps us protect more beavers, more wetlands, and more of the natural heritage we all share.