House Keeping and Updates from the Beaver Wars:
The new look for the site is Scott’s own design. It’s a work in progress, so let me know if there’s anything that doesn’t work on your browser – (except for the slideshow, I know that doesn’t work but I can’t bear to part with it just yet. It is the artwork of the first children’s activity we ever did.) Thanks for the repeated rescues Scott and hopefully I’m having a learning curve in there somewhere. In the meantime look at that cute little beaver symbol beside my name. Isn’t that lovely?
LEWISTON I was contacted yesterday by some concerned folks in the Maine beaver story who say that the city has politely received all the information and contacts I sent and is still throwing up its collective hands helplessly, determined to trap because its the “ONLY SOLUTION”. I sent them proof of everything they had already been told and nudged Skip to give them a call today. Fingers Crossed.
KINGS BEACH I heard this morning from another Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care employee that Cheryl is meeting with public works and Caltrans to talk specifics for what the do the next time this happens. I had already asked Denise, (who wrote me after their protest), to guest blog about the event. I got her column yesterday and I thought I’d pass it along to you. See if it doesn’t bring back old memories for you...
The scene was like a 60’s peace rally re-created. Things were different though. It was 2010 and the ones holding the signs were children -little children! The signs read “Don’t Kill Our Beavers” and “Save the Beavers”.
The heartbreaking part was that the children didn’t realize their beloved Beavers were already dead. They had been trapped and killed just a day or so before. This took place in King’s Beach Ca. yesterday. The beavers had been killed just last year due to “possible” flooding issues from the pond they created next to Hwy 28. The Public Works Dept. sited damage to public property as the reason.
This year’s “fiasco” has been unfolding for a week or so. The Public Works Dept. started by destroying the beaver’s dam daily. Of course the poor beavers spent all night cutting down more and more trees to try to rebuild their home. Finally – everything was trucked away and the beavers sat in a mud hole-bewildered and confused. Parents of the local co-op school volunteered to keep watch but “sometime” between Tuesday and Friday the trapper came and killed the family of beavers.
The area “was” a lovely grassy area adjacent to the creek and beaver dam where people came to watch the happy family doing their daily “beaver chores”. Yesterday some of the parents swear they saw blood in the grass from the beaver’s death. So sad and unnecessary! The ironic part is that after the dam was removed we got heavy rains and sediment and material from the dam washed in to Lake Tahoe-something that would have been prevented “if” the dam was left in place-!!!
It’s all about “Keeping Tahoe Blue” here and this did not fit in well with this logo! The children adopted the Beaver as their mascot and watched them daily. What kind of a message did we send to these children?? We want to promote “eco-tourism” here. Again-what kind of a message did killing the local wildlife send? If they had just waited a few days more we could of helped them to find a way to save the family of beavers. I love the way the “responsible parties” say the beavers are “gone’ or “taken care of“, they themselves not wanting to tell the inquiring children they are already dead! Call it what it is-“they” obtained the permit to have them killed!
Moving forward-Cheryl Millham from Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care spoke with Peter Kraatz from Placer Public Works during the “rally” and he agreed to meet with her “one-on-one” and discuss alternatives such as beaver deceivers. I really believe this killing was born out of ignorance and “they” thought this was the only way! Thanks to Cheryl “they” will now be educated and hopefully set an example for other cities such as Martinez did. The sad part is that this happens all over the Lake Tahoe area. We received the video on beaver solutions from Mike Callahan at Beaver Solutions LLC today and plan to have Public Works at Kings Beach view and learn from it during the first meeting. Maybe “they” can set an example for other Public Works depts. I watched the informative video myself and was amazed at how simple and economical the solutions actually are. Some of the people at the public works dept. are engineers and if they can’t figure it out -we’re in trouble! A committee has been formed and I believe this CAN be resolved and “hopefully” not happen again-at least not in Kings Beach! Hopefully next year the children from the school who’s mascot is the Beaver will again have the privilege of studying them and watching them daily. Time will tell!
Thanks Denise for the heart-felt story telling. We wish you the best of luck. I’m going to suggest that you read The opposite of Camoflaug” over and over again for inspiration in the coming months. Beaver Festival Tahoe anyone?
