Good News! No More Drought in Oklahoma Ever!

Wildlife Control Operators Cutting Down on Overpopulated Beavers

Oh, I guess I got that wrong. When I saw that they thought they were overpopulated with “water-savers” I assumed dry conditions had been repaired! But no, the drought map still looks like this

It’s just that they are committed to killing the one animal that could help fix it.

You know we’re in Oklahoma because they actually show the dead beavers on camera and use that as the screen grab for the entire video. I guess nothing gets attention in the newsroom like a pretty girl holding a dead beaver. Or something. More good news from the trapper:

“I am an animal lover and we have to be educated because people will say, ‘look at the cute beavers’ and people don’t want to see them extinguished but we have to have population control or else we will see the city and county dump thousands and thousands of dollars into rebuilding streets. People will spend a fortune to fix their property if a tree falls on their home or their backyard creek builds back to their porches. There are apartments, stores, restaurants, right here in the middle of us and these animals are tearing everything apart.”

I’m so glad Waite is an animal lover. Well, I guess if my bread and butter depended on the auto wrecking industry, I’d say I loved old cars. Beaver friend Ned Bruha (the skunk whisperer) has been eager to install a flow device for nearly four years now. He has offered to do it on camera. For free. In his county or outside. And not one person has been willing to try anything new. Because their current system of killing beavers, getting federal money for drought, killing beavers with federal money, having more drought, and killing more beavers is apparently working so well.

Waite trapped two 35 pound beavers in the south Tulsa creek along 76th and Mingo. The reason the state asks operators to euthanize them is because relocating them does not solve the problem. He won this beaver battle for now, but next year, or sooner, they will be back.

There are no words.

Oh! The urbanity!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's Killing Beavers Now? December 19, 2012

UVM Sets Kill Traps for Dam-Building Beavers in Centennial Woods

Kathryn Flagg

When a family of beavers took up residence in a retention pond in Burlington’s Centennial Woods this past fall, field naturalist Teage O’Connor saw it as a learning opportunity: His students could watch the animals up close.

But the University of Vermont viewed their new tenants — and the dam they built — as a nuisance. Worried about flooding, the university this month set lethal traps to kill the large, semiaquatic rodents.

At least one of the four beavers — an adult male that O’Connor nicknamed Melvin — is already dead. Now O’Connor and others are calling for the university to halt the trapping until spring, when the beavers could be relocated.

Remember our friend watching urban beavers in Vermont? Well he has stepped his campaign up to the media level and is making his case to the public. I wrote to make sure he has Skip’s and Mike’s contact info and I’m hoping for great things.

With this great article by Kathryn, they are well on their way to getting the attention they will need to slow this down. Remember that killing the beavers will work for a season or two, but our flow device has worked for 5 years. Burlington is about a 2 hour drive from Grafton where Skip Lisle lives. If they can’t solve this problem intelligently, it’s hard to hold much hope for beavers anywhere!

Fonsi?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Massachusetts Trapping Law, Who's Killing Beavers Now? December 18, 2012

I got a letter yesterday at the office from Wildlife Services in MA. As you may remember, right around the time that Tom Knudson at the Sacramento Bee was writing about what a dangerous, wasteful, rogue arm of government the USDA had become, the Bay State was looking at some of there more gristly and dangerous solutions and thinking that “why can’t we do that?”

I wrote back with more than the usual cautions and caveats, as well as a pretty clear reading of history. Apparently I was persuasive enough to get a response from the governor’s secretary and a smattering of reporters. Yesterday I was politely reminded that the wilddeath services of Massachusetts had carefully listened to everyone’s concerns but decided to do what they damned well wanted anyway.

The study is referred as a FONSI ‘finding of no significant impact’. That is – impact to humans. I assuming there would be a significant impact to the beavers themselves, because otherwise what’s the point?

Rather Unusual Case?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Creek Seekers Poetry Contest, Who's Killing Beavers Now? December 13, 2012

WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 –

Did I hear that right? Does the state of Maryland actually consider that beavers chewing trees to be a “rather unusual case?”. Hmm. Maybe there are some more “anomalies” you might want to look into. Dogs chasing cats? Birds emerging from eggs? And snakes born with absolutely no fur!

Sheesh.

Nice to see that the good citizens of Salisbury took the time to learn their customary lines for the annual beaver pageant. Do you remember when we did ours hear in Martinez lo these many years ago?

“Move them to a different location where they will be more at home,” Parks said. There are others, however, that believe the beavers should be left alone as they are only doing what comes natural to them. “They need somewhere to live. This is the place where they find trees and resources so I really don’t see too much of a problem with it,” said Salisbury resident Jam’al Washington. “Unless the park wanted to help them out, they can always do that. But if they don’t, then a beaver is going to do what beavers do.”

Will someone please explain to the state that beavers chewing trees is not unusual? And that trees can be protected by wire-wrapping or painting with sand? Apparently the state of “Manly deeds, womanly words” needs a lesson or two in animal husbandry.

Cody Considers Castor

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's Killing Beavers Now? December 11, 2012

Male lifestyle not so unlike beaver’s life

DAVE DONLEY

I first detected the beaver’s presence early one morning before dawn. I was walking the dog around the pond and heard boulders falling out of the sky, pounding the water with a great splash. Looking up, however, I saw no boulders or meteor shower or frozen effluent streaking off an airliner. We all were delighted our small pond would seem fit for a beaver. In fact, the pond attracts an abundance of waterfowl, including a recent sighting of snow geese. Having a beaver-in-residence raised the stature of the pond from fowl worthy to mammal friendly.

Ahh the old story. Boy Meets Beaver. Boy enjoys watching beaver. Boy can’t believe there’s a beaver. Boy says “we never have beavers HERE”. Boy muses “where did they come from?” If I’ve heard that story once I’ve heard it a thousand times since we first told it to ourselves in Martinez in 2006. The truth is beavers have always strolled up our creek and checked to see if we were fit quarters to raise a family. It’s just that they did so when we weren’t looking and the explorers were routinely and quietly dispatched.

After just a couple of weeks, the consensus decreed the beaver had to go. The options for removal appeared to be few. The default position for invading beavers seems to be its removal by a licensed trapper.

Like that… and like they would have done in Martinez if it weren’t for some very special circumstances.

Then there’s the notion, promoted by any number of beaver hugging websites, that man and beaver can peacefully co-exist. This research taught me that in special cases this may be true and worth a shot.

Beaver hugging websites? Do you think he means us? (Blush) I’m so proud! Tell me about those special circumstances? Is there something particularly rare about the watershed or the stream shape? Or the stream flow? Or the weather? Is it something unique about the beavers themselves?

No. It’s not the beavers that were special. It’s was the humans.

In Martinez we had very rare and special humans who could use the google, crack open a book, open their eyes and actually see that beavers improve streams. . We knew how to watch Nature specials on National Geographic or Animal Planet and saw that Flow Devices could work. And we talked, to our neighbors, to the news cameras, and to our officials.We had very special humans with ears and brains who realized that sometimes city officials exaggerate dangers and don’t tell the truth

That’s REALLY rare!

In some mystical way, I connected with this beaver and was not willing to give up finding a compromise. As an engineer, I can personally relate to the incredible focus possessed by the beaver, almost to its detriment.

The beaver has a plan forged by evolution and is determined to fulfill that destiny. The beaver builds its lodge, makes and takes care of the family, and tends to the maintenance of the dam. My life in a nutshell.

I had thoughts of grabbing the beaver, reforming it of its ways, then getting him cast in a Disney film. He would live out his days blissfully on the pond. My research abruptly ended after my Internet search for “domesticating your beaver” turned up empty.

Too bad.

Very Rare Indeed.