Well, dam — there’s a beaver in Riverside County.
A beaver named Baxter has captured the hearts of locals near Murrieta Creek in Wildomar.
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Just a few weeks ago, Will Mattox, 43, posted a video of a beaver in nearby Murrieta Creek to the GoWildomar Facebook page, which he started in April 2025 to raise awareness about local events and businesses.
“Baxter the Beaver!” he posted. “Did you know Wildomar has its very own beaver damming things up in our local creek?”
The post collected more than 180 likes and dozens of comments.
“New mascot?”
“What a cutie!!!!!!”
“Lookin good, Baxter!”
Since then, Baxter’s public profile has “taken off,” Mattox said. Soon, Baxter had his own Facebook page. Mattox, who owns the company Seriously Stickers with his wife, drew up Baxter stickers and started selling them at local events.
Even local politicians have rallied around Baxter as a city mascot. Wildomar Mayor Carlos Marquez said that, in August, he plans to make “hometown celebrity” Baxter an honorary member of the city’s public works team — given his “interest in local infrastructure,” of course.
“If anyone deserves honorary public works status, it’s Baxter,” Marquez said. “He truly gives a dam about our community.”
Despite his local fame, Baxter’s presence isn’t unusual — there have been several reports of “resilient beavers” in the area, despite “several decades of human development,” said Rudy Mena, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. They’re usually seen in years with heavy water flows, and their dams have “positive ecological impacts without changing the overall flow of the creeks themselves,” Mena said.
Who is Baxter?
There’s a lot we don’t know about Baxter — including his or her gender.
Mattox said he called the beaver “Baxter” because “it just sounded funny,” but he’s actually not sure if Baxter is a male or female, or even possibly multiple beavers.
“I started calling him that, and it immediately stuck,” he said. “The moment I posted that, I started to see everybody posting in the forums. Now it was, ‘Oh, I saw Baxter today.’ ”
“And I’m like, ‘Oh man, what have I started?’” Mattox added, laughing.
Some have claimed they’ve seen baby beavers in the creek, but Mattox said he hadn’t seen them himself, and no one’s managed to capture photos. “We don’t know if it’s the Baxter family versus a singular Baxter,” he said.
Amateur photographer Chris Varney, 21, has been photographing Baxter for about a year. He’s lived in Wildomar for most of his life, heard about a beaver in Murrieta Creek from a friend, and spent a week trying to catch a glimpse. Varney has posted photos of Baxter on his Instagram page, and he said people have been surprised to learn the area has a habitat that could support the semiaquatic animals.
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Since beavers are primarily active at dawn and dusk, Varney said there were limited hours to get viable shots. Collectively, he estimated he’s spent about 50 hours waiting to capture a snapshot of the now-famous beaver. But Varney said he likes the challenge, plus he enjoys spending time in nature.
“It takes a lot of effort, whether it’s going on hikes or sitting in the same spot for hours on end,” he said.
Varney said he’s never seen more than one beaver at once, and he’s seen videos of the babies, but he hasn’t spotted any himself. “I’m hoping to get out there and document them,” he said.
Beaver backlash
But Baxter’s fame hasn’t been without controversy. Some people have accused Mattox of “doxxing” the beaver, he said.
But Baxter had already been a local fixture for a few years, with photos of him periodically popping up on local forums for the last few years, and Mattox said he hoped that increased attention could lead to increased protections for the Wildomar celebrity, similar to how the social media stardom of Big Bear bald eagles Jackie and Shadow has won them greater protections.
“I thought that it might be best if he had more popularity, then he would be protected by more people,” he said.
Varney said he’s also received some backlash for posting photos of Baxter, but he knows the response is “out of protection” for the beaver.
The way the community has rallied around Baxter shows how Wildomar residents “embrace the little things,” Marquez noted.
“One of the things I love most about our community is that we care about each other and never pass up the chance to share a laugh,” Marquez said. “This is all about celebrating what makes our community special.”
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