87-1-224. Destruction of beaver and beaver dams for protection of public health. (1) When a complaint is made to the department of environmental quality that beaver are obstructing the free flow of a stream flowing through a settled area and into which stream sewage of a town or city is dumped and the obstruction endangers public health, the department of environmental quality shall immediately investigate the complaint. If it finds that the work of the beaver endangers public health, it shall report the facts to the department.

(2) The department shall immediately issue a permit, free of charge, to the landowner upon whose land the beaver dams are located for the removal of the beaver, the number of which must be designated by the warden making the inspection. The landowner shall remove all beaver and beaver dams as provided by the permit within 10 days after its issuance. If the landowner refuses to remove the beaver or the dams in the 10-day period or if the landowner does not desire to do so and so advises the department, then the department may remove the beaver by trapping or transplanting and remove their dam by blasting or other means.

(3) The department shall furnish all labor needed to blast out or otherwise remove the beaver dams. Necessary explosives must be furnished by the county in which the beaver dams are located.