From Beaver Management Facebook Friend Chris Muller:
The tongue is so quick that it’s difficult to spot live except when they yawn. I’ve rarely photographed the tongue while eating but here’s a recent one. Even shooting at 7 frames per second there’s only one shot with any evidence of the tongue so it’s largely luck to see it fully extended.
Well that’s a relief anyway. 7 frames a second is something I never did, and Sarah says she was shooting at 60 frames a second. Plus I made people wonder about it and try out new things, and I never get tired of that.
Yesterday I got a great treasure in the mail via Ben Goldfarb but actually from Chris Jones, the Cornish farmer who first stepped up to allow beavers on his land. Remember that my paternal grandfather was born in St Austell, Cornwall,where his family had worked for years in the tin mines. After the gold rush, when California wanted to mine deeper gold they came along to use their expertise and find a new life.
Thanks so much Chris and Ben, I love it!
I heard from the attorney at CBD yesterday that they were very interested in the idea that non-dam building beavers contribute as well, and she planned to follow up with wildlife services. So it’s already been a week of tying up loose ends. The story made it into the SF Chronicle today – albeit with more flash than substance.
‘Nature’s engineers’: Feds to stop killing California beavers
Under the threat of legal action, Wildlife Services, a controversial program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, has agreed to “cease its current beaver damage management activities” in almost all California counties, according to a statement from Wildlife Services state director Dennis Orthmeyer issued via email.
In other words, the government program will stop killing California beavers.
Ahh would that it were true. Beavers of course will STILL be killed by wildlife services if the damage landscaping or levees and if they have the audacity to live in a stream that’s too wide to dam. I know its good for people to make the link in their heads that beavers matter, but I don’t think it’s good to tell everyone they’re safe.
It’s too much like the grinch patting Cindy Loo Hoo’s head and sending her back to sleep while he finished the job he never had any intention of stopping.
Throughout California, the beaver will roam free, able to build as many dams as it pleases — at least for now. Wildlife Services’ press release explains that it is stopping the beaver-killings “out of an abundance of caution” as it evaluates the impacts of the beaver damage management program
