Muscovites who grit their teeth and prepare for spring floods generally blame the spring thaw, but this year's mild and comparatively snowless winter would seem to negate that theory. Another cause, the Moscow Regional Government has acknowledged, is beavers.

Their natural propensity for gnawing through trees has caused serious problems for Moscow's trees, some of which the rodents use to build dams. The dams, it seems, are responsible for some of the floods that afflict Moscow at this time of year. "The building of dams has caused a number of floods in past years in the Volokolamsky district... and we need to make serious efforts to address this issue," Vice governor of the region, Alexey Panteleev, told the Russian press recently.

The beaver population has reached high levels, with no natural predators to contain them. Their activities threaten not just plantations and reservoirs but also the human population, as they carry dangerous diseases, including Thelazosis and the parasite Giardiasis (Beaver Fever).

Further away from urban areas, hunting the animals provides recreational opportunities and their pelts can generate a sizeable local industry, Moscow furriers have estimated that untreated pelts can fetch $100 dollars a piece. Out of town, beaver ponds have ecological value and create habitats for other animals.

The humane solution to the beaver population would be to transport the animals to areas where their numbers are few and where they would do less critical damage. This would however be expensive, and by far the most cost effective and efficient solution would be to cull them.

By Tom Washington and Nathalie Cooper