Let them eat beaver! A new bill aims to amend restrictions on what beavers Minnesotans can eat

Should Minnesotans be allowed to consume a beaver that damages their property?

It’s the third-biggest question surrounding the animals in Minnesota, right behind the age-old question of “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” and “Who eats beavers?”

A bill introduced by DFL State Senator Grant Hauschild aims to answer at least one of those questions by once again allowing Minnesotans to eat any nuisance beavers they killed.

Under the current law, beavers that are causing property damage to Minnesotan landowners can be killed out of trapping season, so long as a conservation officer is informed ahead of time and told after the fact.

After the nuisance beaver has been killed, landowners may dispose of or retain the beaver killed, so long as they don’t eat it, and authorities haven’t given them any required disposal methods.

Oddly enough, at least for those who don’t eat beaver on a regular basis, the law only prohibits the consumption of retained beaver, meaning any woodchucks caught in season can still be served up for Sunday morning breakfast.

The restriction on nuisance beavers was implemented last year, which led to some senators scratching their heads at the ban. When being discussed in the Minnesota Senate on May 17, 2024, Republican Senator Steve Green called outlawing the consumption of the rodent problematic.

“It is pretty good, but it is a rodent, and I have a hard time getting past that,” Green said. “But I do know a lot of people that do consume beaver and I think it’s a little problematic that we’re making it a crime.”

Should Hauschild’s proposal be passed, no other changes would be made to the current Minnesota beaver laws, and the answer to one of those three questions would be given.

Editor’s Note: This article previously mislabeled Senator Grant Hauschild as a republican. It has since been corrected to show he is with the DFL.