Nibi the “diva” beaver will remain at the rescue center, the governor of Massachusetts decides

BOSTON (AP) – The issue of whether a 2-year-old beaver named Nibi can stay with rescuers she has known since childhood or must be released into the wild was resolved Thursday when the governor of Massachusetts stepped in to protect Nibi.

The state gave Newhouse Wildlife Rescue permission to allow Nibi to stay at a rehabilitation facility and serve as an educational animal.

“Nibi has won the hearts of many of our residents, including mine,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said Thursday. “We are pleased to announce that we have granted permission for Nibi to remain in Newhouse’s care as we continue to educate the public about this important species.”

Nibi’s fate made it all the way to state courts before Healey stepped in.

On Tuesday, a judge said Nibi would be allowed to remain at her home at the Chelmsford Rescue Center, located northwest of Boston. A hearing is scheduled for Friday in a lawsuit brought by rescuers against MassWildlife, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, to stop releasing the animals.

Nibi rescuers from Newhouse Wildlife Rescue wrote on their Facebook page that they are “extremely grateful” for Healey’s decision.

Nibi has been a hit on the rescue group’s social media since she was a child, and posts about her impending release have attracted thousands of comments.

An online petition to save Nibi from release has garnered more than 25,000 signatures, lawmakers have spoken out, and earlier this week Healey pledged to protect Nibi.

“We all care about what’s best for the beaver known as Nibi and all wildlife across the state,” Mark Tisa, director of MassWildlife, said in a statement Thursday. “We share the public’s passion for wildlife and invite everyone to learn more about beavers and their important place in our environment.”

Jane Newhouse, founder and president of the rescue group, said that after Nibi was found on the side of the road, they tried to reunite her with nearby beavers that may have been her parents, but were unsuccessful. Later attempts to contact other beavers also failed.

“It is very difficult to consider releasing her into the wild when she only seems to like people and has no interest in being wild or bonding with any of her species,” she said.

Newhouse said Nibi has a large enclosure with a swimming pool during the rescue and will also walk around the yard and rehabilitation room. “She already has complete control over this place. Everyone on my team is in love with her,” she said.

Newhouse said she asked MassWildlife if she could get Nibi a permit to become an educational beaver, which would allow her to take the beaver to schools, libraries and town halls. Newhouse said she fears being released into the wild will mean certain death for her beloved “diva” beaver, who doesn’t know how to live in the wild.

“It doesn’t give her a lot of time… to figure out how to build a cabin for the first time, how to build dams for the first time and how to store all the food before winter comes,” she said.

Newhouse said beavers typically leave their parents between the ages of 2 and 3, so it’s possible that Nibi will show more interest in wanting to be in the wild over the next year. But if that doesn’t happen, he wants to keep her safe.

Beavers are common and abundant throughout Massachusetts. Beavers, a keystone species, play an important role in supporting biodiversity in ecosystems, according to government officials.

By damming rivers and streams and creating shallow ponds, beavers are essential to creating healthy wetlands that support a huge variety of plants, insects and wildlife, and also store floodwaters during storms.

They are also the largest native rodents in North America, weighing 35 to 80 pounds (16 to 36 kilograms) and reaching a length of 2–3 feet (0.6–0.9 meters) as adults.

Adult beavers have very few predators and can live for 20 years or more.

Officials say that in almost all cases, it is best to leave wild animals alone so that they are not dependent on humans for food and shelter.