Category: In the News

Best. Beaver. Story. EVER!!!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, In the News July 17, 2012

‘Crocodile’ terrorising German town turns out to be a beaver

Two visitors to the Bavarian city’s local lake, Klauensee, claimed to have spotted a crocodile in the water. After deploying dozens of searchers, including a dramatic night-time boat operation with more than 70 police, fire fighters and aid workers, officials in the town now believe they have spotted the missing reptile. But Klausi the crocodile, it turns out, is actually just a beaver.

The city of Schwandorf has no wikipedia entry but is a small German town near the Czech border. What lake housed the criminal? The article doesn’t say but since the public named the mythical croc ‘klausi’ I’m assuming the sighting was in Klausensee. This means the lake with the lurking crocodile is about 2000 feet across and just under a mile long. 70 officers to patrol means one officer every 200 feet on the perimeter. And HOW in god’s name would a crocodile survive in Bavaria exactly? They are cold blooded you know, and the average winter temperature hovers right around freezing. I suppose its possible someone just released his pet croc in the lake and its managing fine in the summer heat, but 70 police? Here’s a handy comparison sheet for next time, because I’m sure even in Schwandorf there are more important things to do, and btw thanks for the morning ROTFLOL.

And because nothing in life is simple, here’s a the flipside of the headline for today. Sigh, something like ‘Yes, Klausi there is a Virginia?’

Worst. Beaver. Story. EVER.

DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

Halcyon Rescue

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, In the News, kits, New Species, Recent Sightings June 24, 2012

So the tap on my door yesterday turned out to be Moses with his camera bag, only instead of toting around the usual video camera that has practically become a regular Martinez landmark, the bag held an injured belted kingfisher. He had found it flapping around the primary dam and it couldn’t fly for more than a few feet. He had eventually managed to catch it with the help of the beaver-attentive homeless man Robert. Could I arrange to bring it to the Lindsay Museum for rehab?

So we transferred the very large bird with an impossibly long bill to a paper bag for safe keeping, and gave Moses back his camera case. Then I called Cheryl Reynolds to check in just to make sure what to do next. She said that rehab of Kingfishers was VERY tricky and that Lindsay would almost certainly bring the bird to International Bird Rescue where she works. She mulled whether it was better for the bird to go straight to Fairfield, but ultimately decided it would be best for a vet to see him right away and get her stabilized.

halcyon — Kingfisher with supper - Cheryl Reynolds

Jon was at work and Lory was out of town so I I drove alone in the Subaru, (where mom beaver had once had ridden ironically nearly two years ago to the day), with the bird fluttering inside her bag on the front seat. I say ‘her’ because she seemed to have an observable red chest band. As I drove, I thought of my personal history of bringing animals to Lindsay over the course of my life. A seagull. A thrush. A goldfinch. A pond turtle. And a tiny field mouse, which they did not take. At their advice we fed the baby fieldmouse puppy milk out of an eye dropper ourselves and he grew up from a ‘teaspoon’ to a ‘tablespoon’ in a short week. It was a strange lesson in animal husbandry, but perhaps paved the way for advanced rodent guardianship later on. After the week we put him back at Briones where we found him.

I delivered the bird to the healers at Lindsay. The receiving woman took down his information politely, “you say he’s from the Martinez Beaver dam? You mean the famous one?”. Yes, indeed. Good luck, Mr. Kingfisher. Your bright colors and swooping dives make for beautiful watching at the dams! Get well fast!

A couple more odds and ends to brighten your Sunday. Last night the father beaver movie topped 60,000! And as I was surfing about I found this article and thought, wait a minute, who’s calling themselves an accidental beaver advocate? That’s MY line! Someone’s stealing my material!

I became an accidental beaver advocate when some moved into our local stream and the city wanted to kill them. I started a group called ‘Worth A Dam’ to teach others about their value and how to solve problems. I organize a yearly beaver festival and am working with a group in California to reeducate our state about beaver value and historic prevalence.

Oh wait, that IS me. Just not my name. Whew, but hey….. My letter to the naturalist from New Hampshire was added to Stacey Cole’s most recent article. I suppose he feels he is protecting my honor by obliquely referring to me as a ‘reader in lafayette’ but when our Maine friend saw this letter she got excited that there was some local beaver contact she didn’t know. She called Stacey directly yesterday! He’s 90 years old and has beavers living on his land who are running out of food. He is having willow brought in to persuade them to stay! God bless Stacey, and Lega for that matter!

Okay, now for a quick round of “BEAVER or NOT” from Ohio Nature Research Photography and Videography. You know one of those sites where you can BUY shots labeled as beaver and run them in your alarmist article about beavers because, you know, you never actually saw one.

Look familiar? It should because that tiny little face with a white muzzle and whiskered button nose is a muskrat. A muskrat! Why do people get away with this? They’d never be able to sell a picture of a hummingbird as an eagle? Anyway, the photographer saw their ‘conical house’ and knew they were beavers. Sheesh. Of course I wrote them and I bet they are BESIDE themselves struggling to correct the mistake.

Now for a treat of epic proportions, check out the just released video from our friends at Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife. I know you are busy and people don’t always have time to click on videos but it’s Sunday, I know you well enough to know you want to so JUST DO IT.

Mr. & Mrs. “D”

heidi08 City Reports, Educational, Environmental, featured, In the News May 25, 2012

Leave It to Beavers

Can they help us adapt to climate change?

By David Ferry Atlantic Monthly

Now, nearly two centuries later [after the fur trade], beavers are valued not just for their pelts, but for the environmental benefits of their gnawing and nesting. A growing community of “beaver believers” is reintroducing the animal to regional water systems throughout the American West in the hopes of reducing the incidence of floods and the damage from forest fires, alleviating drought, helping fish thrive, and conserving fresh water—in the process, helping to combat some of the effects of climate change.

Well, did you see the release of the long-awaited beaver article from the Atlantic Monthly yesterday? The author David Ferry contacted me way back before Christmas and we talked beavers and the beavers’ impact on our little stream. He had gotten my name from Brock Dolman who had filled him with lots of great quotes and beaver information. Since he was just around the corner in Oakland I invited him out for a viewing, although as it was winter and I wasn’t sure what he would see.

On December 7th, 2011 we bundled up in warm clothes and met at the beaver dam. David was a journalism grad student at UCB and we discovered a friend in common, Richie Parks the former editor of the Martinez Gazette who ironically prides himself to this day on having ‘broke’ the beaver story. We showed David the dams and then stood at the Escobar bridge to see what might transpire.

I remember that night not only because I knew Martinez would be in the Atlantic Monthly but because the beavers were acting very, very differently. The two larger beavers that sleep up by the primary were vocalizing loudly — more loudly than I had ever heard them before. Not in distress, just emphatic. They were swimming around each other in circles, and calling to each other. They came one after another right under the bridge, and we used our light to show David a lovely glimpse of them under clear water – every lovely detail visible right down to their flapping webbed feet. I remember he gasped.

What was the vocalizing about? We never found out. We haven’t heard such noises since they were babies and never that loud. Maybe it was just clever marketing! Since it was winter we wondered whether it might have something to do with mating rights, but who could know? David was just happy to see beavers up close, and we made sure he left with a hat, brochures and photos. Since the California working beaver meeting was coming up the following month, I suggested Brock invite him to attend, which Brock thought was a great idea.

David wasn’t able to come to the meeting, but several months later I was contacted by the Atlantic monthly for a ‘fact checking’ interview. Where was Martinez? Did David really come that night? Did we really see two beavers? Were they really called ‘yearlings’? If you were ever concerned that fact-checking has disappeared from modern media you should be comforted at least that it still happens on the staff of the Atlantic. At the time I asked if it might be possible for us to get a few extra copies for the City Council, and was assured they would be mailed. All 5 copies just arrived!

Since national magazines are finite spaces with multiple demands for content and legions of red-penned editors lurking at every corner, very little of that visit made it into the article. I am very sorry that there was no mention of the flow device, the struggle to keep the beavers, or most importantly WORTH A DAM but still grateful to show a national audience that Martinez is one place you can reliably see beavers. This is all that remains of that cold December night

To see a beaver today, I drove some 30 miles from Oakland, where I live, to suburban Martinez, California, where a beaver family has moved into the creek that cuts through town. There, a delightful beaver-believer couple showed me around the colony, pointing out the subtleties of beaver construction and anatomy, as a pair of yearlings swam below us.

Well, the article is the beginning of a great discussion about the benefits of beavers that should turn into a national dialogue and eventually a policy shift – certainly in California! And even though the name of WORTH A DAM is lost on some editing room floor somewhere, I doubt the name of MARTINEZ has ever been in the Atlantic before and that is definitely something to celebrate. If people google ‘Martinez’ and ‘Beavers’ they are sure to wind up here eventually! Just one comment about something they missed with all the careful fact-checking: No one ever even asked me this….

Are the two of you, in fact, ‘Delightful’?

Beavers and Heroes

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, History, In the News April 11, 2012

UPDATE:

Ian Timothy makes beaver waves in Kentucky. Out of state voices rattle the council and leave a lasting impression. Go read the whole article, you will love every syllable!

The Great Beaver Massacre occurred in the city of St. Matthews sometime in early March. That’s really the only fact everybody agrees upon. (OK, so even that isn’t an agreed-upon fact by all parties involved.) Like so many government-sponsored atrocities before it, the alleged savagery is shrouded in secrecy and official denials of knowledge. In fact, Robert Tonini, a member of the St. Matthews City Council, claims he didn’t know anything about it until mid-March when emails started pouring in. St. Matthews officials have received missives from as far away as California, Maine and New Zealand. All of them with the same claim: Someone had embarked on the demolition of beaver dams in Arthur K. Draut Park.

**********************************************************************

Then check out the other good beaver tidings! My article as published in the spring newsletter of the John Muir Association. Click on the image for a fun read linking the city’s famous conservationist to a famous beaver advocate!

And stay tuned for some very good news for beavers in California!

At the annual conference we have an award ceremony to recognize and honor leaders in the watershed restoration community. The Golden Pipe award is an annual award presented by the Salmonid Restoration Federation for innovators in the fisheries restoration field. Usually this award is bestowed upon a pioneer in the habitat restoration field who has been a leader or unique thinker in fish passage design or innovative restoration techniques.

On March 7th, 2012 in Davis, CA the Salmonid Restoration Federation presented this award to Brock Dolman, the Director of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s WATER Institute for his leading role as a proponent of “working with beavers” to restore native habitat. Brock helped co-found the ad hoc California Beaver Working Group, networked with groups utilizing beavers from all over the country, and made strategic contacts with state and federal agencies that oversee wildlife and fisheries conservation and recovery efforts.

Brock has been a Paul Revere for the Beaver, shouting its virtues and mobilizing communities to consider working hand and paw with these creatures who naturally know how to restore habitat and protect instream flows.

This pushes beavers a long way into the forefront on the salmon campaign and moves us all closer to the inevitable day when any city ripping out a beaver dam will need to pay a fish – fine – and I couldn’t be happier! Congratulations Brock and keep up the good work!

These Things I Know to be True…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, In the News, kits March 14, 2012

Baby animals are cute. Tiny kittens, fuzzy rats, baby wombats. Lets face it: baby everything’s are cuter than what they eventually grow up to be. We were cuter when we were babies. Baby animals are cute even if the adults versions are scary or scaly or carnivorous. It may be in the evolutionary best interest of baby animals to be cute so that their parents want to see them and take care of them – and that if their parents get lost or killed we agree to take over! I’m prepared for the ubiquitous “awwww” factor when viewing baby animals. This ain’t my first rodeo and I’ve been around the baby animal block a few times before.

But this is different.

No bunnies or puppies could prepare a person for this image. Take a moment to look at that startled face, curled tail, the webbed toes , and those little fingers clutching her hand. This is a baby beaver, called a kit and recently donated with her two sisters to the Chehaw Wildlife Center by the good folks at DNS (who probably killed her family). The article says they were found when the ‘dam’ they were living in was destroyed, so clearly we’re dealing sophisticated beaver minds.

I’m saying “her” because of their names, Molly, June and Penny, but there’s actually no telling if they knew enough to check the gender before they slapped the names on them. They clearly didn’t know anything about their development because this article says they’re “6-8 weeks old” – which unless they’ve been starved for 4 of those weeks, is absolutely impossible. I would be very surprised if they were more than 2 weeks old, and looking at how wet they are in the next two photos it is clear that they aren’t producing (or using) their own castoreum and no one at the ‘education center’ is waterproofing them or drying them off in the mean time.

Two of the kits will remain in their care to be used in educational programs – which, if the caretakers come to realize that these are babies and need to nurse for 6 more weeks and be treated with waterproofing or at least dried off with a cozy towel then they might live long enough to help. Certainly Georgia needs education about the role beavers play in the ecosystem and their importance for rivers and streams. Georgia is the state where the Clemson Pond Leveler was invented lo these many years ago, and certainly has a few folks who know a thing or two about beavers. But its also a state where they paid a bounty for tails and encouraged folks to keep them in their freezer until officials could get around to paying for the deaths. So it’s safe to say they need some education.

No word yet on the fate of third kit, and that’s a little creepy in itself. I will write them with some information and hope for the best.

UPDATE: Good News from the Responsible Folks at Chehaw….

Thank you for your resources! I know our Education Coordinator, Jackie, has been in contact with several zoos and rehabilitation centers (including your own) trying to make sure our beavers receive the best possible care! As an AZA accredited Zoo, they have received both expert veterinary and daily care. They will indeed play an important role in educating the public about ways to coexist with beavers and other native animals. I will make sure Jackie receives these links.

We received the beavers over four weeks ago and were told they were about 2-3 weeks old at that time. Before deciding to acquire the beavers, we carefully considered their husbandry needs as both kits and adults. While I cannot attest for their care before they arrived, I can assure you that all of their needs are now being met. They are being bottle fed around the clock with rehab-recommended formula (from the care sheet on your website). Their bottle feeding schedule and implementation of solid foods was researched through a number of different zoos and rehab facilities. They have even begun to eat solids including Mazuri Rodent Pellets, carrots, and apples. The current temperature here in southwest Georgia is about 80 degrees during the day, and after each swim, I can assure you they are thoroughly towel dried. They are regularly checked by our staff veterinarians and have been accurately sexed as female. As for the third kit, she will find a wonderful home at another zoo with a colony of beavers. Hopefully all three will help educate people about living with beavers.

Feel free to call us if you would like to further discuss the care of our beavers. I will leave you with the contact information of our Education Coordinator. Thanks for your care and concern!

Not to be accused of regional bias, LK offers this local example of beaver misinformation in yesterdays SF Gate photo identification contest, in which we are assured the photo is of a beaver “Swimming on its back”

To which I can only reply that this is a ‘beaver’ in much the same way as the Iraq war was an excellent use of American resources and after 5 years of publishing articles on the Martinez Beavers the SF Gate should know better!

And some really good news comes from Oregon where Jimmy Taylor (perhaps the one of two folks at the USDA with a favorable impression of beavers) will be presenting on thursday about beavers at the Alsea Watershed Alliance in his two hour talk titled “Understanding beavers here in the Beaver state.”

And this final note from Guelph where the mayor wrote me back and assured me she had lead volunteer groups to wrap trees in the past and would continue to do so in the future! Nice to be published in Canada!