Whether a 2-year-old beaver named Nibi gets to stay with the rescuers she has known since she was a baby or must be released into the wild as winter approaches in Massachusetts has ended up in court — and caused such an uproar that even the governor has weighed in.

The founder of a Chelmsford animal rescue said the state ordered her to release the beaver into the wild, a move she says would put the 2-year-old critter's life at serious risk as winter nears.