A fairly adorable beaver story is making headlines today, this from Caledonia in America’s dairyland, a village in Racine that mysteriously enacted special laws to become an actual designated ‘village’. Let’s just saw they’re a little quirky and enjoy their unique style in this article.
CALEDONIA — A Caledonia police officer got a furry surprise on a call Wednesday near Johnson Park.
“It was the last thing I’d thought I’d see,” Officer Andrew Gelden said. “But there it was: a beaver in the roadway.”
Gelden was dispatched just after 3 p.m. Wednesday, when the department received a call about a beaver “hanging out” in the middle of 3 Mile Road just east of Johnson Park. A self-professed animal person, Gelden arrived on the scene, scooped up the beaver and put it in the back of his squad car.
The beaver did not appear to be injured, according to Gelden, and he quickly located a new home for the critter.
Beaver in squad car
“I know they like water, and so I moved it over by a pond,” Gelden said.
Gelden said the beaver was very calm, and after he set it down near the pond, it “just kind of sat there” looking at him for a while. In all, Gelden said it took him five minutes to get the beaver to safety.
Ohh! He looks a little scared back there, don’t you think? Well most of us feel scared in the back seat of a police car. I’m glad the officer picked him up off the road. I wouldn’t think he’d be dispersing at this time of year, but I he might not have a calendar. The weather was below 30 last night, so ponds must be starting to freeze.I guess compared to lots and lots of folks that’s a pretty adorable mug shot. It sounds like the officer was very kind and very Wisconsiny. Which was lucky for him, and makes a nice story for us.
More goodies from the 7th Generation Institute Winter newsletter. These are previews quote of their interviews with ranchers which will appear in their upcoming film. Send this to your nonbelieving friends.
Aren’t those WONDERFUL? Honestly, I want to print them as post cards and mail them to every landowner in the west. Thanks for your great work, 7GI! It isn’t often that I closely read an entire newsletter and am disappointed to get to the end.
I really couldn’t resist the awesome broadcast earlier in the week, and had to let myself play. There honestly aren’t many things more fun for me than this, and I needed some cheer after the week I’ve had. Watch at least until the police come or skip ahead if you can. Just be grateful the good folk at Powtoon will only let me do 5 minutes for free, otherwise I would have kept going!
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A beaver walked into an Alaska hardware store on Friday, but couldn’t find anything for his lodge. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the beaver triggered the automatic doors and walked into Lowe’s about 7 a.m. Friday.
Employees trapped the beaver with a cardboard box in the plumbing department. A state wildlife biologist was called. Ton Hollis says he’s used to wake-up calls about “a bear in town or an ornery moose or something, but this was a little different.”
Hollis released the beaver into the Tanana River, far enough from town where it won’t be a nuisance. Lowe’s assistant manager Adam Vanhoveln says the beaver didn’t cause too much of a commotion, and it didn’t reach the lumber department.
Hahaha! “Didn’t reach the lumber department!” that’s pretty funny. Thanks Rusty for sending this cute use of our name to my attention. Knowing what its like to shop the echoing caverns of Lowes, I’m going to guess he couldn’t FIND the lumber department. Or anyone to show it to him for that matter.
It’s late for dispersers. But probably not in Alaska. This little guy was just doing what beavers do when the reach a certain age. Exploring to find their own turf. Hopefully the Tanana River will be a better bet than aisle nine.
Important photo though, because if you look you can just barely make out top teeth. I can’t stress enough how rare that is. All the cartoons with those huge top teeth are funny but wrong. Once upon a time I thought this was funny but wrong. But now I realize its closer to the truth than modern images get today.
Sherry Guzzi of the Sierra Wildlife Coalition sent this yesterday. Her sister lives in Jackson Hole where the documentary will be having its American debut.
Drew Reed of the Wyoming Wetland Society releases one of two beavers into a wetland in the Gros Ventre in 2009. The film “Beavers Behaving Badly” documents Reed’s catch-and-release work. It will be screened tonight by the Jackson Hole Bird and Nature Club.
On Tuesday the club will present wildlife filmmaker Jeff Hogan’s one-hour documentary “Beavers Behaving Badly,” a BBC production. The screening is in conjunction with the club’s regular monthly meeting, 6 to 8 p.m. at Teton County Library.
The film explores the importance of beavers in the area’s ecosystem. Valley biologist Drew Reed is documented over the course of a year relocating beavers from private land where they were a nuisance to public land where they can create wetland habitat that is vital to wildlife and people.
“The film shows an ecological project come full circle,” said Bernie McHugh, a dedicated birdwatcher and secretary for the club. “Once the beavers are relocated to public lands all throughout Teton County they can help restore wetland, notably for trumpeter swans.”
Ah another feel-good solution! Move the problem out of our creeks and streams and throw them into the mountains! Maybe they’ll survive and do some good and maybe they’ll die or get eaten by a coyote but either way it’s a win-win for us. Because nothing is going to be nibbling our hedgerows.
Drew seems like a nice enough fellow, and his intentions seem of the right kind. But I’m a little worried that a grown man whose job it is to solve beaver problems that doesn’t spend any time building flow devices or protecting culverts. He also shockingly says that he’s never seen a beaver chew through “netting” before (???) or eat grass (!!!). So I’m going to assume his beaver information has room to grow. Here, I’ll help get him started. This is a yearling chewing grass.
If you can’t make it out to Jackson Hole for the premiere, you can watch the whole thing online here. The title alone set my teeth on edge for most of it, but there’s some lovely video and footage of a beaver making a scent mound which is worth the price of admission by itself. Another attempt to copy Jari Osborne’s hard work, I’ll warrant. Drew is no Sherri Tippie, that’s for sure.
Let me know what you think. My strongest impression is that Jackson hole is an insanely beautiful place with a lot of beaver sissies for residents. But that’s just me.
I worked longer than I should on this yesterday but was very happy with the result. I really thought Enos Mills’ great writing needed to be revisited, so I selected a few choice lines from my favorite chapter, along with a handful of select photos. I gave up on the idea of having a better voice read this because the timing needed was a little weird anyway and I’m not smart enough to change it. I really hope you watch this. Or at least read the chapter.
A final selfish note urging us all to wish for rain, or at least cooler temperatures to help calm the fray. The Butte fire is burning the hell out of Heidi’s favorite place, and grew so rapidly yesterday the firefighters actually lost ground. The land my parents brought when I was 7 and built a home to retire on for the last 25 years isn’t out of the woods yet. As a child I built and maintained a coral there to keep in my imaginary horses, and it is the place that Jon and I escaped to the snowy night we were married, lo these many years ago. The fire is mostly expanding away from our property but there is one wicked lick at the back that is marching up the canyon towards the wild place I know best in the world, so keep your fingers crossed.
It’s been a year for catastrophes, and sometimes that is contagious.
Beavers may be great architects, but perhaps they aren’t the best with directions. Bellevue police helped one such beaver Monday evening after it found its way into the Chick-fil-A parking lot, and had difficulty making its way back home.
“The beaver somehow got himself on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to Chick-fil-A and there was lot of traffic there,” said Amanda Jensen with the Bellevue Police Department.
“He seemed disoriented,” she said. “They were just concerned about him getting hit.” The other concern was the line of cars waiting to enter the fast food restaurant. Bellevue’s new Chick-fil-A location has become renowned for causing heavy traffic as patrons drive through.
Being a good neighbor, a Bellevue police officer gave the little guy a ride home, or at least to the front door of the nearby pond where he has taken up residence.
“The officers used a dog catching pole and wrangled him into the car,” Jensen said. “And they brought him to a pond area where it is known that beavers are.”
After hopping in, a short ride, and hopping back out, it was dam-sweet-dam for the clever rodent.
There’s nothing more embarrassing than being brought home in a police car after your first night out. But it could have been much worse. He could have hit by a car, mauled by a dog or remained at Chic-fil-A.
/a>New promo thanks to Sarah Koenisberg who was kind enough to update her last one. Hopefully it will run on the Martinez channel soon. Feel free to pass it on!
CALEDONIA — A Caledonia police officer got a furry surprise on a call Wednesday near Johnson Park.
