This pair of beaver kits are growing up at the Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Summerland.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Facebook/ Bartlett Tree Experts Okanagan

Two orphaned baby beavers are growing up in a rehabilitation centre in the South Okanagan and the public can watch them live at all hours of the day and night as they sleep, swim, eat and play.

This fall staff at the Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Summerland set up cameras for livestreaming inside and outside beaver enclosures where kits Tiny Tom and Baby Nelson are living until they are old enough to be released back into the wild.

“Our beaver cams were installed to monitor remotely how the beaver kits are getting along, how they are doing and to see their behaviour without interfering, for the mental heath and wellbeing of the orphaned beaver kits," said society founder Eva Hartmann. 

Cameras with infrared lights are used at night, and viewers can ask beaver questions in the comment section of the livestreams.

"The livestream is an educational tool, where we write regular beaver facts into the live chat comment section, like beaver social behaviour, beaver biology, how to tell male and female apart, and why they are a keystone species for wetlands."

Beavers are crucial to the environment as they build wetland ecosystems, which mitigate drought and flood hazards among numerous other benefits, yet they are a complex species to rehabilitate because they have special social and health needs.

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The society is involved in participating in wetland restoration in the surrounding area, where members work with the public on finding solutions to beaver conflicts with humans.

Tiny Tom and Baby Nelson are not the first pair of beavers to spend time at the facility this year.

In June a pair were brought to the facility after being deemed a nuisance on a local property, with one of them suffering from a facial injury.

Later in the summer, the beavers were released into a wetland ecosystem on Nooaitch First Nation land to help improve the ecosystem as part of a conservation project by the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology.

Rehabilitation centre staff have also been publishing videos on a YouTube channel telling the stories behind the animal patients who recover at the centre before release, including several stories about beavers.

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The Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society is a collection of volunteer wildlife professionals and veterinarians who care for wildlife in the Okanagan with a focus on aquatic wildlife. Located on an undisclosed three acre property, the facility is not open to the public.

The indoor closure live cam is thanks to sponsor West Kelowna Integrative Health while the outdoor cam is currently sponsored by an anonymous donor.

Anyone who wants to sponsor a livestream for a month can email the society here for details.

Go here to watch the live beaver cameras.

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