THE MISSING FESTIVAL COMPENSATION PRIZE

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Festival June 25, 2021

It’s the Friday before what should have been our 14th beaver festival. Friday had become one of my favorite parts because it was the day Amy Gallagher Hall graphed off the pavement and started her beaver masterpiece. Jon and I would come to hang signs, bring lunch and offer moral support while we enjoyed having her talent unfold before us. It was a great day, and god willing when all this is over it will be again.

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Saturday of course would follow with it’s sleepless night, early morning awakening, crazy cast of characters, with all our wonderful exhibitors and 1000 little jobs that couldn’t be forgotten. Then the wonderful musicians and endless streams of happy curious children. The beaver festival was a glorious, insane. Am impossibly folded day. Like 12 days in one. And then the tents are packed up, everything is carried upstairs and put away, the Uhaul goes back and we sleep for a week.

This year it all seems like a dream but there is one SILVER thread of compensation for the glorious festival we cannot have. Last week, after my grim photo shoot, I wanted to do something right. Inspired by Lisa Owens Viani recent success I worked like a beaver composing and editing an Op-Ed about what beavers could do for California. On Friday I sent it out and was immediately rejected by the LA Times. I was sad for an entire weekend then the San Francisco Chronicle expressed interest and I was over the moon. They asked for a few more edits and some fleshing of references and then we were good to go. The truly wonderful thing is. It will run in TOMORROW’s newspaper.

That’s right. On the day of the missing beaver festival California will get the FIRST EVER beaver benefits oped in a major newspaper. And who knows who’s staffer will read that or what reporter it will inspire. This time tomorrow the secret be out. Now you and I both know that people are very stubborn and will continue to ignore beavers for as long as its possible to do so.

But something tells me this is a big deal.

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THE CUTEST THING AND THE BRAVEST THING

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation June 24, 2021

Get ready for an entire mountain of cute. Scratch that, an entire MOUNTAIN RANGE of cute. I have never seen wet kits before, so these little fellows have a lot to learn. Good thing they’re at Cornell.

Orphaned baby beavers crisscross New York state for treatment at Cornell

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Well? Well? Am I right? Are those the cutest dam things you ever saw in your adult life? Don’t bother looking for pictures of your children. I can tell you right now.

It is.

After their parents were trapped and killed at Lake George in the Adirondacks, these beavers were rescued and sent to licensed wildlife rehabilitators in Western New York. “They’re often seen as a pest, because they do change the landscape when they make their dams and alter water pathways,” said Sara Childs-Sanford, D.V.M. ’99, section chief of the Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital.

Their troubles didn’t end there, however. The kits, approximately three weeks old at the time, developed severe diarrhea and their health was declining, so they were transferred to Cornell for further care.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a veternary student with that little tailed patient staring you in the face every day.

Childs-Sanford and her team ran tests to determine the cause of their diarrhea and found they were suffering from bacterial enteritis due to Escherichia coli (E. coli). Unfortunately, two of the five kits died, but the three remaining beavers responded well to treatment. “We’re keeping them well hydrated and giving them lots of food and heat support, and they all are improving at this point,” Childs-Sanford said.

Two of the little peanuts died! I’m so glad the other three have each other to be with. Beavers are social animals.

Beaver kits require attentive care at this age. Swimming is key to their health, for example. It is when they do most of their hydration, defecation and urination. This litter enjoyed swim time three or four times a day in a constantly refreshing tub at the wildlife hospital. Childs-Sanford said the prognosis for this group of travelers is good.

After concluding treatment, the three healthy beavers, at approximately five weeks old, made the trip back to Western New York this month for rehabilitation and eventual release.

Yeah I wondered about the idea of them staying at Cornell for any length of time. It’s back to rehabber for the next two years.

I liked this. While you have their attention do some good!

Beavers are the largest rodent in North America, and have a transformative impact on their surrounding environment. Their dams alter waterways to slow-moving ponds that support a diverse wetland biological community. “There are places in the United States where groups are considering reintroducing beavers as one way to bring water back to areas that are in drought and to research how they affect the landscape in this way,” said Childs-Sanford.

It’s too bad they don’t give the name of the rehab where they are returning too, because I’m sure taking care of three kits for two years takes a lot of donations!

For the kits at Cornell, this means they cannot safely be released by their rehabilitators for at least another year and a half. “They have quite a long road of rehab ahead of them,” Childs-Sanford said.

Alright. You’ve seen the cutest dam thing ever. Get ready for the bravest fucking thing. This actually happened two Fridays ago. They told the Mr. Keene he needed to do a mic check rehearsal and he was such a narcissist that he never noticed the school wasn’t real, the award wasn’t real and the graduation never happened.

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BEAVERS STAND ON GUARD FOR CANADA

heidi08 Beavers June 23, 2021

Yesterday was a FANTASTIC day. Mike Digout’s clever decision to hang a Canadian flag over a known beaver path paid off in spades and all the country was abuzz over it. He was on the radio, the evening news, and he may have even done a zoom call with the queen or something. Just watch how BRILLIANT this is. And then I’ll tell you why it’s even better than it looks,

Saskatoon beaver takes down Canadian flag, makes off with flagpole

How much do you love that beaver? And by that beaver I mean Every Beaver Ever. Mike also gave a fantastic interview about how he made this happen. Make sure you listen.

Isn’t that wonderful! Mike is a fantastic spokesman and getting better every day! The other fantastic part about this story is that long ago you may remember I objected to an insert in the beaver management plan by Elijah Portugal about the wallmart in the city of Logan Utah. It quoted a trapper saying that beavers could be “discouraged” by hanging a flag at the dam which would blow around and frighten them away,

I totally didn’t think that was anything but BUNK and argued endlessly about allowing it to be included in the Urban Beaver section of the Beaver Restoration Guidebook. Well yesterday I sent this too Elijah Portugal and he had to laugh.

“It obviously doesn’t work if the flag is Canadian” he said.

CASTOR CALIFORNIA CSI:

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Anatomy June 22, 2021

Yesterday was full beaver CSI day. With multiple CDFW scientists weighing in on the beaver with a hole in her tail and whether or not it was a bullet wound. At one point there was even discussion of whether the ‘entry’ and ‘exit’ of the possible bullet made sense with the wound. In the end I was informed that it was mostly likely damage from a radio tag that had ripped out and that in fact these had been used in California at various times.

Okay’ brace yourself for this, but Radio tags are affixed to the beavers tail after a hole is first made with a punch OR a power drill and provides researchers information about dispersal and habits. They generally occur higher up on the tail so the antenna has room to hang down, which one science officer said might have been why this one ripped out. It was remarkable to hear the wildlife biologist from FRESNO CDFW say that this had been done in California, because I didn’t know anyone in California thought beavers were worth studying certainly not anyone in Fresno!. But no one could say yet if it was currently or if it was happening where it was happening. They are looking into it and will let me know, Which would be very interesting indeed.

Because odds our our mother beaver in was an escapee. The missing piece!

Beaver supporters like us were all mortified to think of beavers living with holes in their tails or being drilled or punched even under sedation. At one point I heatedly observed that if researchers really wanted to know about where beavers go and what they do they should frickin’ WATCH them every day like we did in Martinez for 1o years. We recognized mother beaver by her tail markings. And they could too.

Vanessa Petro (who was very helpful all day and part of the DNA work in Oregon.) Has tagged many beavers over the years and knows what works and what the options were thought our recognizing mom by her tail was funny because sometimes when the researchers would ‘lose’ a tag through misplacement or accident they would still identify the beaver by the mark in its tail.

Well, of course they did. I thought and sent her this. Note the tail.

EITHER VERY BAD NEWS OR VERY GOOD NEWS

heidi08 Beavers June 21, 2021

This is either very bad news or very interesting news. Rusty Cohn caught this photo last night of a beaver in Napa. Look at her tail.

Bullet hole? Radio transmitter hole? One thing we know for certain is that it’s not made by a beaver. I’ve asked around a and would love to year your thoughts. Here’s a typical Radio Transmitter attached to a beaver tail from a study in Oregon.

It’s rotten to imagine this being a gunshot or to think of some local taking shots in the water so close to home. But kind of wonderful to imagine its from a transmitter since no one I know of in California doing this work. That would mean she’s an out of state beaver? Like an Oregon escapee? That’s at least 337 miles away. Quite a swim to freedom.