A beaver that had been found roaming the grounds of Joe Henderson Elementary School is seen here returning to its habitat after being treated by Lindsay Wildlife Hospital and Sonoma Wildlife Rescue. (Photo by Paul Hara)

Leave it to beaver, indeed.

A beaver was found wandering around Joe Henderson Elementary School a few weeks ago following a major rainfall. The 2-year-old beaver was taken to the Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital, where it was nursed back to health and released back into the wild just last week.

Although Henderson’s mascot is a hound, the school suddenly became synonymous with beavers a few weeks ago. On the morning of Jan. 12— just two days after a major storm hit the area— the beaver was seen roaming Henderson’s grounds by campus custodian Sean Minchello, who called Benicia Police Department’s Animal Control division. After determining that the rodent was injured, he was transported to Lindsay Wildlife Museum Rehabilitation Hospital in Walnut Creek.

“He was disoriented and kind of huddling in front of the school, which is very unusual behavior for a beaver,” Elisabeth Nardi, a media contact for the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, said.

Additionally, the beaver had nicks and abrasions on his tail and was drooling and urinating a lot. Veterinarians determined that he had been tossed around a lot in the storm and had ingested some plastic.

“We basically just let him rest here and gave him some fluids and medication and just watched over him,” Nardi said.

After one day at Lindsay, the furry fellow was transferred to Sonoma Wildlife Rescue in Petaluma, which had specialized pools for beavers and river otters— something the facility in Walnut Creek does not.

“We transferred him up there so they could watch him and make sure there was no other outstanding problems with him,” Nardi said.

After the beaver regained his health, a Lindsay Wildlife volunteer released him into a water shed behind McCall Drive. Nardi speculated that this could have been his original habitat or at least close to it.

“We’re regulated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, so we have to release animals back within certain miles of where they’re found,” she said.

There are no water sources near Joe Henderson, but some volunteers hiked around the area and found a water source with dams.

“That looked like a good area to release him,” Nardi said.

The beaver was transported in a kennel. At first, he would not come out and then slowly wandered and splashed into the water. After about 10 minutes, another beaver came out of a lodge and the two swam around together.

“We had some beaver experts in attendance, and they said that the likely female beaver coming out and the male beaver not fighting, it was a good match and probably where they had actually come from,” Nardi said.

The Benicia Police Department took to Facebook to express happiness that everything worked out well for the animal.

“ We are so glad to see a happy ending and would like to thank everyone at Lindsay, who took good care of him and other injured wildlife,” the department wrote.

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