ASHLAND, Ore. – Staff at the Ashland Wastewater Treatment Plant found a beaver swimming in one of their secondary clarifiers on Oct. 14, marking the first time the facility has dealt with anything other than ducks in their treatment tanks.
“We don’t know for sure how the beaver got in. It’s quite possible it dug in under a fence overnight. Maybe a bird of prey picked it up and dropped it,” Plant Manager Ben Russell said. “It was fairly easy for the beaver to get in and nearly impossible to get back out.”
The secondary clarifiers are large tanks where wastewater settles during treatment. Ducks frequently visit the facility’s liquid areas because the water runs a couple of degrees warmer than creek water…