Summerville Beavers Spark Heated Debate: Trapper Defends Removal Practice

David Driver, a professional wildlife trapper with nearly five decades of experience, is pushing back against criticism over beaver removal in Summerville, arguing that the conversation has missed the real impact these animals are having on local infrastructure and native wildlife.

The issue has sparked heated debate in Summerville, with animal advocates staging protests and attending city council meetings after Mayor Rickey Hughes announced on social media that the beavers would be trapped. Animal advocates say the way they are trapped and drowned is beyond cruel.

Driver recently spoke to AllOnGeorgia as well as news crews out of Chattanooga to defend the practice and explain the broader implications of the beaver population. He also addressed what he says is misinformation circulating on social media about how the beavers are killed.

“The information about beavers being drowned is inaccurate,” Driver said. “I use an instant kill trap that hits with so much force it instantly kills the beaver. It’s much like a big rat trap.”

Driver, who served seven years on the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Turtle Division board and has 60 years of trapping experience—47 of those professionally—says the beaver population in Summerville has created serious problems for businesses, homeowners, and taxpayers alike. Until 2018, he regularly trapped beavers for the City of Summerville.

“Beavers build dams that flood and contaminate fast-moving streams, killing the native wildlife that depend on those ecosystems,” Driver explained. “Stream wildlife can’t survive in stagnant beaver ponds filled with mosquitoes, leeches, and snakes. This isn’t just about beavers—it’s about what’s happening to our mountain streams that run through two city parks.”

According to Driver, the financial toll has been significant. Flooding caused by beaver dams has damaged businesses, homes, private property, roads, bridges, and culverts—all requiring costly repairs funded by local taxpayers.

Driver emphasized that continuous trapping is necessary due to Summerville’s unique geographic position. “The overflow of the Chattooga River system allows new beavers looking to establish colonies to come into city creek,” he explained. “Each year, two-year-old beavers are forced out of their family colonies, usually in spring and fall.”

Without trappers acting as their main predator, Driver says overpopulation leads to violent territorial fights. “I catch them every year with huge holes bitten into their backs from other beavers because of crowding,” he said. “Nature is cruel when it must take out the overpopulation.”

This is also why relocation isn’t an option, according to Driver. “We can’t relocate beavers because there’s a huge population everywhere, and it causes these fights which are truly horrific. The newly relocated beaver is cruelly bitten and left to die from festering wounds.”

Driver also addressed another solution that has been suggested on social media: installing pipes through beaver dams to control water flow. He said that approach doesn’t work long-term.

“Beavers hear the water running through the pipe in the beaver deceiver. They feel the water dropping,” Driver explained. “If for some reason they can’t stop the water, they simply build another dam below the water pipe. It’s like a chess match, but the beaver will always checkmate you by building another dam.”

Driver also pointed to a fundamental difference in how wildlife is managed. “Trappers have to follow Georgia DNR laws. Rehabbers don’t,” he said. “It makes true wildlife managers look like villains when it’s the opposite.”

The longtime trapper said that modern changes in hunting and trapping practices have led to increased wildlife suffering. “Because folks don’t hunt or trap much anymore, every year I catch numerous fox, raccoons, and coyotes dying from mange, distemper, and rabies,” Driver said. “My trap is way better than that. Nature doesn’t obey laws as to always give a swift, painless death.”

“The residents of this county should have the final say, not folks from other areas looking to raise money for their cause,” Driver said. “There’s much more at stake here than just beavers.”

Driver, who goes by “The Real Turtleman,” said all the extra attention has been stressful, but he will continue to do his job. He maintains that professional trappers are essential to managing wildlife populations while protecting communities from costly environmental and infrastructure damage.

The debate highlights ongoing tensions between wildlife rehabilitation advocates and professional trappers over how best to manage Georgia’s beaver population.