An Ottawa woman alleges Parks Canada is responsible for the deaths of a male and female beaver after the animals were caught in kill traps near the Hogs Back locks near Mooney’s Bay.

Jenni Meldrum said she was walking her dog on Monday near the locks at about 11 a.m. when she saw a Parks Canada worker who told her he was relocating the beavers.

She walked her dog there at about the same time on Tuesday and said she saw a trapper carrying the strangled, lifeless body of a beaver on a sled.

“The trapper picked up the male on the Tuesday morning and told me at that time he was strangled and drowned,” she said. “I touched it. It was dead.

“I asked him why he didn’t relocate them and he said he changed his mind about setting the live traps (because) he said somebody might steal it.”

She suspects the same thing happened to the female because when she returned on Wednesday morning she couldn’t find it and said she saw more snare wires that had been cut.

She took pictures of the traps and sent them to Metro, but said she didn’t think to take a photo of the dead beaver.

“It’s sad when they decide to use a kill trap instead of a live trap,” Meldrum said.

National Capital Commission spokesperson Jasmine Leduc said officials had discussed the presence of the beaver with Parks Canada, who hired a trapper.

Parks Canada did not return calls Thursday.