Animals long thought gone from our area are making a comeback.

People are noticing more foxes, coyotes, bald eagles…and now beavers.

On Tuesday, Haverford’s animal control officer recovered a deceased beaver from Darby Creek near Merry Place Park, writes Pete Bannon for the Daily Times.

Uncontrolled trapping and habitat loss eliminated beavers in Pennsylvania and most eastern states by the end of the 19th century.

That would explain why most of us in Delaware County haven’t seen one. 

Even so, Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Research furbearer biologist Thomas Keller said he’s not surprised they’re showing up.

“While they don’t have the habitat like up north, we know they are down there,” Keller said.

Keller said the Game Commission doesn’t have specific counts, but beavers are resurging closer to populated areas.

And their work has been spotted in Fairmount Park.

Keller said beavers are known to build dams or lodges, but that is not always the case. The dams provide deep water, which is safer for them, but now they have few predators beyond coyotes.

Beavers are night animals, so their only evidence may be trees they gnawed on.

Read more about beavers making a comeback in Delaware County in the Daily Times.