Beaver resurfaces in Vancouver's Olympic Village

A beaver, perhaps even two, have been spotted in Vancouver's Olympic Village.

The iconic rodents have built a large dam in the man-made wetlands of False Creek.

"There's two," said Jeremy Murphy who lives in the area. "They hang out in the middle of the pond usually, back-to-back or cuddling a little bit, gnawing on everything they can find."

It's not the first time a beaver has called the area home. Two years ago, residents came across another beaver — possibly the same animal as the one seen recently.

A beaver was also seen in the summer of 2015.

'Big and beautiful'

Those previous sightings haven't dampened excitement.

"We saw the beaver five minutes ago. He came out from the water," said Mila Andelman who was rewarded during her search for the animal on Sunday. 

"He was big and beautiful. We tried to feed him some bread ... we're waiting for him to come back," she said.

Other neighbourhood residents have also documented their encounters on social media.

Someone has even created a Twitter account on behalf of the beaver.

Potential concerns

Despite the mounting attention, the animal appears to be at home in its urban dwelling.

However, Murphy says he does have concerns about their introduction into the area's ecosystem.

"There's lots of bird nests and other animals that use this area. The beavers have come and made short work of all of it. I'm kind of wondering what their fate will be," he said.

In the past, beavers have caused problems at ponds in Jericho and Stanley Park by bringing down trees and building dams.

Vancouver's Board of Parks and Recreation was not available on Sunday to answers questions about the animals.