IRMO, S.C. — Some residents near Lake Murray say their properties are being destroyed by beavers.
"[They] pull the staples out, push the fence under like this and crawl right under," says Barbara Shockey.
Shockey says beavers are destroying her backyard--plant by plant.
"They're pretty much annihilating my landscaping," says says. "They've taking down 5 of 7 bushes in one section of my landscaping and several other bushes. I've had to set up fencing and beaver traps and nothing's working."
Shockey has lived in her Chapin home for five years, but says she has never had a beaver problem until January. "They just keep coming back, night after night. they're chewing the barks on my trees–a lot of it."
She believes more than a $1,000 have been lost in landscaping.
Scott Smith is the owner of All Things Wild, works with homeowners to help get rid unwanted animals such as beavers. "The lake traffic can be tricky because there's so much shore line," he explains.
Smith says January through May is when most people request for beaver removal because it follows their breeding season.
"You can't set your traps just anywhere," he says. "You have to have a set pattern. If you don't find that beavers pattern or figure that pattern out, you're not going to be successful. You can't just throw a trap out, there's not way to lure them."
Unless you can find the dam and remove it, Smith suggests tightly wrapping trees with hardware cloth, or building a strong fence to deter the animal from the vegetation they keep eating.
"They'll keep going back to that one spot until they deplete it. once they find that one food source, that's why that pattern will last a minute but again, if we don't have the shoreline to narrow them down to funnel them into our traps, we can't get them in there."
According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, anyone can trap or shoot beavers on their property but a permit is required for anyone hunting at night.
For more information on beavers, the SCDNR has set up this information page.