Day: April 25, 2014

Meet Bolton’s new St George’s Day mascot – the Little Lever Beaver

A NEW St George’s Day mascot — the Little Lever Beaver — popped up in Bolton town centre to fly the flag for England.

The top-hat wearing rodent is the creation of husband-and-wife team Phil and Angie Sutcliffe, who said they wanted to mark the Saint’s holiday by bringing their very own creation to the Town Hall steps.

“We came up with the Little Lever Beaver as we wanted something that rhymed with the place — I was born in Little Lever and now we’ve settled here after travelling for 30 years.”

Add this to the number of stories stacked up for the inevitable re-colonization of beavers in England. I’m not crazy about the top hat, since beavers were exterminated in Europe, Canada and America in pursuit of felt for top hats. It’s kind of like having a baby cow dress up as veal picatta.

But I love the very last sentence in this article.

Beavers are now extremely rare in the UK, after they were hunted to extinction in England during the 12th century.

“Extremely rare” is SO much better than “extinct”. You almost get the feeling that some folks in the country are beginning to accept their fate.