User:Stoneblocks/Beaver Lake Refuge New Brunswick

Beaver Lake Refuge, Hampton, New Brunswick

Beaver Lake Refuge was set up and run by Ernest and Nancy Mickelburg at the their property on RR 3, Hampton, New Brunswick, Canada. Beaver Lake Refuge was remarkable because visitors could feed and touch the wild beavers which lived on the Mickelburghs' propoerty. The beavers lived free and came to the shore of the lake to meet the visitors and to receive pieces of apples and carrots. In the 1960s through to the 1980s Beaver Lake Refuge was a small tourist attraction for visitors to New Brunswick.

When Ernest and Nancy Mickelburgh found a pair of beavers building a dam on their property Nancy decided to tame them. Her mother had told her the story of Grey Owl who had tamed beavers and she was determined to try to tame their beavers.

The beavers became used to being watched and overnight they would coe and take away the poplar the Ernest cut for them. One morning Nancy and ernest found that the beavers had cut down an apple tree so Nancy decided to lure them with apples. Every evening she sat at the water's edge holding out a slender stick with an apple oon the end. After several evenings, one beaver came closer and then took the apple from the end of the stick. Gradually Nancy shortened the stick until the beaver was within touching distance and she could feed him by hand. Over a period of four years a second beaver came to be fed by Nancy. Then the pair of beavers brought their kits. This behaviour of bringing kits to visit passed down through generations of beavers living at the lake.

In time the Mickelburghs welcomed visitors to their property to feed the beavers in the late afternoon. They provided carrots and apples for the visitor to feed the beavers who would take these from the hand. Sometimes they would put their paws on the visitors laps to take food.