A lone beaver had been spotted hovering in the same position along the Charles River for four days when officials stepped in to save it.

Just after noon on Thursday, the Animal Rescue League of Boston (ARL) and Wellesley Animal Control set out to the Cordingly Dam Fish Passage in Wellesley where the beaver had reportedly been sitting below a footbridge since Sunday.

Animal control officers said they had received “countless calls from concerned residents” asking if the beaver was OK.

“With the animal right at the edge of the rushing water and approximately 15 feet below a ridge, it was a precarious and potentially dangerous position to be in,” ARL officials wrote in a press release.


As a “throng of onlookers” gathered near the footbridge above, crews were able to corral the beaver into a humane net, then cover him with another net, before slowly raising the animal up to the brick ledge.

Officials said the animal didn’t seem to be injured but was likely malnourished and too weak to swim.

ARL said in a Facebook post that a wildlife rehabilitation center would use their best judgment about when it was time to safely release the beaver back into its habitat.

“Beavers typically are not very cooperative in rescue situations,” ARL officials said. “However, once the beaver was on the surface, our team was able to coax the beaver into a carrier and then transport him to a wildlife rehabilitation center.”