CHELMSFORD, Mass. – A custody battle over a beloved rescue beaver has fans across the country asking for officials to reconsider an order releasing it back into the wild.

Two-year-old Nibi was rescued by Jane Newhouse of Chelmsford as a baby, and lives at her home where she cares for other lost or injured animals as a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

Newhouse is a former veterinary technician, and her organization Newhouse Wildlife Rescue has all the supplies and enclosures needed to support raccoons, possums, ducks and countless other animals get back on their feet.

“She’s probably the most famous beaver in America right now,” Newhouse said. “She’s been on CNN, she’s been on National Geographic, she has tens of thousands of followers.”

Nibi’s first brush with viral fame came when Newhouse posted a video of her reacting to the arrival of another beaver, Zibi, to Newhouse Wildlife Rescue.

“She couldn’t stand Zibi. Zibi wanted to be friends and Nibi didn’t,” Newhouse said. “When we took Zibi outside of the rehab room to try and let her into the semiaquatic enclosure, Nibi quickly started building a dam at the door… I thought it was hilarious.”

Newhouse said the video has since racked up 11 million views, but in the two years since, the clock has been ticking on their time together.

MassWildlife rules require baby beavers to be released after two years, when they’d usually part ways with their parents in the wild. But Newhouse said Nibi isn’t cut out for life on her own.

“She’s too used to people, I don’t think she’s appropriate for release,” Newhouse said. “She’s too habituated, the reason being we couldn’t get her to get along with any other beavers that we tried to introduce her to.”

She said in her communications with MassWildlife, she cited several experts who agreed Nibi’s release would be detrimental to her well-being.

Newhouse tried appealing to allow Nibi to remain with her as an educational animal, but the request was denied. She was scheduled to get picked up Tuesday morning, but attorney Adam Teper helped Newhouse delay the process for the time being.

“He said ‘I won’t sleep tonight, I’ll spend the entire night putting this together. I’ll be at court first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll file an emergency injunction to keep Nibi safe and keep her with you to work this out.' We were texting at three in the morning, signing court documents, it was insane… He came barreling into my house this morning with court documents signed by a judge,” Newhouse said.

Nibi’s fate may now be decided Friday morning in Middlesex Superior Court, and Newhouse hopes her case shines a light on the plight of other wildlife rehabilitators who don’t have the benefit of their beaver being a social media star.

“We don’t deserve to be treated like this,” Newhouse said. “We deserve to be treated like the wonderful kind human beings we are that are volunteering our time, helping the wildlife people of the state… I’m going to make sure that every other wildlife rehabber gets their due process as well. We all deserve it.”