Bringing Up Beaver: Two Orphaned Beaver Kits, Their Humans, and Our Journey Back to the Wild

A lively and charming account of one human’s relationship with an orphaned beaver kit.

On May 10, 2020, an orphaned beaver kit was found in St. Albans, Vermont and handed over to John Aberth, a licensed volunteer wildlife rehabilitator. Over the next two years, John raised the kit, whom he nicknamed "BK," and prepared him for release back into the wild. During that time, John and BK developed a special and unique bond, which John documented in a daily diary. That diary became the basis for Bringing Up Beaver, a lively and engaging account of one human’s relationship with a wild animal.

Bringing Up Beaver is more than just a feel-good story about human encounters with nature. Full of fascinating observations about beaver behavior and biology, Bringing Up Beaver also documents the unique challenges and obstacles to be faced and overcome in rehabbing a wild beaver kit. Populating the story are plenty of other wild creatures that John encounters in the course of his journey with BK, including other beavers—one of whom became BK’s mate—as well as hawks, owls, mink, and weasels.

For anyone who has been charmed by a beaver's "smile" or enjoyed books like Fox and I and Eager, Bringing Up Beaver is a must read that will give us a new perspective on the wildlife and natural world all around us.

John Aberth is an author and historian who lives in Roxbury, VT.  He received his Ph.D. in Medieval History from the University of Cambridge in England and spent twenty years as a professor of history, publishing ten books. Upon his retirement, he received his license from both the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rehab both birds and mammals, training at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and apprentecing with head wildlife keeper, Allison Stark. He now specializes in the rehab of raptors—namely, owls, hawks and falcons—and also in some mammals, including beavers, bobcats, coyotes, minks, and weasels.