Category: Massachusetts Trapping Law

“Mistakes were made”

heidi08 Massachusetts Trapping Law November 30, 2013

Spanish is a forgiving language in which it is possible to deflect blame for many transgressions by using the ‘accidental reflective construction’ which allows you to say – instead of pin-pointing the guilty finger with “I forgot the book“- the ambiguous and lightly sheepish shrug of “the book was forgotten“. You can see how useful this phrasing is for getting your teenagers to confess, and indeed essential to entire presidential administrations. Here are some responsibility-evading words that use this construction in Spanish. Think about their english equivalents.

Which brings us to the newest headline in Massachusetts.

Boxford history: Wildlife thins or thrives over time

When Sidney Perley wrote his History of Boxford in 1880, the first chapter included a description of Boxford’s flora and fauna. Viewed from the perspective of a 19th century rural agricultural community,

Perley stated, “The wolf and bear, which were so dangerous to our early settlers, have long since been forgotten. The wildcat, also a formidable enemy, has not been met with for a century. The moose, red deer, and beaver were numerous; but they, too have passed away. The red fox is still shot by the sportsman.

‘Been forgotten‘, ‘passed away‘, and ‘not been met for a century‘. Boxford has had an elegant supply of euphemisms for the past 200 years. Notice at no point do they actually use the words ‘eradicated, exterminated’, or even the less understood ‘extirpated’. It’s all very mysterious. For ‘SOME REASON’ (no one knows why) we know longer have bear or moose in Boxford, and for ‘SOME REASON’ (no one knows why) we have a lot more raccoons and crows than we used to.

Success has many parents, but failure and species depletion is apparently an orphan.

This trend continued into the 20th century. In the past few decades many animal species, including some of those specifically mentioned by Sidney Perley, have acclimated and even prospered in Boxford’s suburban environment.

Let’s not mention our trash cans are often unprotected buffet tables, or our cozy crawl spaces entire dens where a fox can happily keep her kits dry all winter. Let’s forget our increase in pests when all the predators are removed and the mysterious need for more rat poisons when all the raptors are killed. Don’t remind us that we killed hundreds of thousands of beavers in Massachusetts alone and made room for lots more beavers to move in.

For SOME REASON this just happens. No one knows why. Certainly not the author of this article.

Guess who got published?

heidi08 Beavers, Creative Solutions, Massachusetts Trapping Law November 26, 2013

So sometimes I open my eyes and email and I have no idea what beaver misfortune I will be writing about that day. And sometimes my inbox has a present all shiny with a red bow on top just for me. This morning it was a ‘good job’ email from John Hadidian, the senior scientist at the Humane Society, who had just read through his new issue of Human-Wildlife Interaction and seen my commentary. Gallant man that he is, he offered to scan it for me since it will be a while before its published online. Now it is followed by the two page whining rebuttal of the researchers I challenged but we’ll talk about that later. Today let’s just enjoy ourselves, shall we?

Consider this entire article a warning shot across the beaver-trapping bow and a irresistible recommendation for humane beaver management everywhere! (10 year old data, sheesh!) Honestly, what I personally am proudest of about this article is that it actually uses my education instead of dragging it shamefully along behind like the tin cans tied to a ‘just graduated’ car.

Non-respondent bias? Oh snap! I never thought I’d be able to use those words again after graduate school. Now I want to say it all the time! And thank the hard work research and design stats teacher who got the concept through my thick head. I actually hated hated hated math, and (shh) never did the homework. But I loved statistics and calculated every single formula by hand. Don’t ask me why. It made perfect sense to my way of thinking, where as many people (including my brilliant husband) loved math and failed miserably at statistics. Go figure. I know by now you’re probably thinking ‘doesn’t this woman EVER talk about anything besides herself? So this is the part about you.

Yes, the heroic actions of town-ful of adults and children is what forced Martinez back to the drawing table and allowed Skip Lisle to be hired in the first place. When the people lead, the leaders will follow. (Except Janet Kennedy of course, but she’s gone.) There were so many young people who grew up with this story. I just got a call this weekend from a freshman at UCSC who was a middle schooler when the story started and wanted to write a paper on how the Martinez beavers improved our creek.

Cue the rousing anthem and the unfurling flag in the background! I just got goosebumps! Let me say that I truly believe only a hybrid psychologist-beaver advocate could have written this entire article in four tight paragraphs. I know I mostly coast along with insulting the hygiene and IQ of folks who kill beavers much of the time, but I’m really proud of this. Let’s all remember:

I pledge allegiance to the streams,

and the beaver ponds of America.

And to the renewal for which they stand

One river, underground, irreplaceable,

With habitat and wetlands for all.

Not Again!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Massachusetts Trapping Law, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 25, 2013

Let’s say, (and why not) that you’re an educated state on the east coast that used to regularly hang folks accused of breaking the law from a big trap door platform in the center of town. You’d always do it on wednesdays and the sound of the trapdoors swinging open (and that little snapping sound that came after) would remind regular citizens not to speed or steal or cheat on their taxes. And you were happy with this rule until that really small child in 1995 suffocated in the rope after hanging there for 12 hours because they weren’t heavy enough to break their own neck. Residents got really upset about that incident, and a year later passed a law closing the gallows for good and insisting that the state could only kill offenders by lethal injection.

Mind you – not outlawing the death penalty. (The voters weren’t insane.) Just changing the tools the state could use to achieve it. And in fact, the gallows could still be used in severe cases if approved by the state.

Now let’s say, (and why not) that within a decade law enforcement was complaining that the number of criminals in the state had tripled, crime was on the rise, and that since it cost slightly more to inject someone than to hang someone poorer cities were less willing to apply the death penalty. Criminals, (they said) knowing they were less likely to die for their crime became bolder and were showing up on every street corner. How many more criminals you ask? No one actually knew, because no one actually counted, but every one agreed it was a LOT.

Meanwhile at the lethal injection factory, they were piling up dead bodies just the same as usual, and routinely going about their lethal business when asked (and paid) to do so. But sometimes when the technicians who administered the shot would flip on the news, they’d hear the entire state complaining in unison that the state had OUTLAWED the death penalty in 1996 and that no one could kill criminals anymore, and they’d scratch their heads in confusion. Didn’t lethal injection count? Wasn’t their work respected? Maybe folks should change the rules back so that folks would hear that snapping sound on wednesdays and every one would know how hard they worked?

And thus it came to pass that the folks who should have known better lied about the crime rate, and the folks who knew they were lying helped them because they wanted their old job back and the reporters wrote everything down regardless of whether it was true, because that’s what they do.

Which brings us back to Massachusetts.

Beaver dams causing problems

Beavers have just one overwhelming drive: to stop flowing water, according to Robert Landry, Marlborough Board of Health administrator. In towns like Holliston, Framingham, Natick, Hopkinton and Marlborough, an “explosion” of beavers is causing what animal-rights activists refer to as “human-beaver conflict,” Landry said.

“It’s directly related to that Question 1 on ballot a few years ago that banned trapping. There’s been an explosion of beavers since then, and a marked decrease in trapped beavers that’s created an explosion in beaver population,” Cooper said.

We’ve been here so many, many times before. Populations of beavers exploding! Mosquitoes and west nile virus on the rise! Beavers plugging up culverts and streams! And possibly chewing through internet cables! The lie-meters in the entire state must be off the charts.

The dams redirect water from rivers and streams into MetroWest backyards. In some cases, the beavers’ industry has dried up small ponds and at least one private well, area board of health officials say.

And we all know if there’s one thing those crazy beavers do, its dry up WELLS, for god’s sake. Mind you this three page expose isn’t content just not tell lies about beavers. They are committed to telling lies about Beaver Solutions too.

As beaver populations grow and occupy more habitat, those water-flow devices (piping systems) will not remain functional over the areas beavers can occupy, McCallum said.

Remember, the voters passed this law only 10 years before beavers came to Martinez. And Martinez made a unilateral decision not to kill them with crush traps or lethal injection or suffocate them with pillows. No extermination whatsoever. We decided to solve the problem instead of killing it. And we haven’t flooded, or died from west nile virus or had our wells dry up. Instead we had new fish new birds and new wildlife and a healthier creek. We’ve had exactly half as much time as Massachusetts for our beaver population to explode and for our flow device to stop working: Our flow device still works and our population is 7.

If Massachusetts keeps this whining up they are going to have to change their nickname from the ‘bay state’ to the ‘baby state’.

It’s always a developer…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Massachusetts Trapping Law, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 22, 2013

I’m beginning to spot a pattern in the marshy beaver thicket, and it looks something like this. If a beaver conflict makes the news cycle once, blame some flooding. If it hits the news cycle twice, blame a noisy woman. And if it rides the news cycle a third time, look for a wealthy property developer, because he is driving the train and he’s used to deciding where it goes.

Hopkinton builder targets pesky beavers

HOPKINTON —

Beavers are threatening to cause problems at Legacy Farms so developers have asked the town for permission to hire a trapper to get rid of them, developer Roy MacDowell said Wednesday. The industrious rodents can cause problems when their dams cause flooding or block culverts. Standing water also attracts more mosquitoes.

“It is an issue,” MacDowell said.

Hopkinton AGAIN? I can’t believe I’ve been forced against my will to learn how to spell that name. Well, I got a nice email from the selectman chair last week and Mike tells me he had a good conversation with him. So there must be something fiscal at work behind the scenes. Who’s this MacDowell character anyway?

Roy MacDowell’s Wayland mansion hits the block … again

Roy MacDowell Jr. is downsizing, but to where and what he’s not so sure. What’s for certain is that his 25,000-square-foot home in Wayland is on the block. The asking price: $21.8 million.

MacDowell, one of Greater Boston’s most successful developers prior to the downturn, said the reason for the move is somewhat mundane; he and his wife, Virginia, are empty nesters looking to lighten the load as they enter the next stages of their lives. That they are selling this dream home just months after MacDowell officially ended a costly and emotionally draining legal defense of his real estate empire is beside the point, he said.

Wait, I’m having flashbacks. Is it 2007 again? Everything seems so familiar. Have I gone through some kind of time warp? I seem to recall that the most powerful NO VOTE on our Martinez beavers came from a developer. And what’s Mr. MacDowell’s vision for the wetlands?

Legacy Farms is taking shape in Hopkinton

Condomiums will sell for around $600,000, MacDowell said. The 15 single family homes cost around $800,000 each, he said.

“I think there’s a pent-up demand in the market,” MacDowell said Tuesday, walking across glossy hardwood floors in the model unit.

At the other end of the development, Wood Partners has built 240 apartments, and staff in the rental office are taking potential tenants on tours.

The apartments’ clubhouse houses a movie theater, billiards room, swimming pool, gym and meeting rooms. MacDowell’s plans for the north side of Rte. 135, behind Weston Nurseries, include 35 single-family homes and 390 simplex or duplex condominiums, he said.

There are also new plans to build a 127-bed retirement community on Rte. 135, in an area previously slated for businesses.

That’s right. We have to make sure that beavers don’t add a natural element to our planned community. Anything for our developer friends. And for those playing along in Martinez you might especially enjoy that last sentence when you remember a certain Berrelessa Palms monstrosity. Always tack on a senior project when asking to change the general plan. It helps your nefarious ascot look more noble.

Last year the developer donated a new well to the town. Some work has also been done on the downtown intersection. When the town approved the plans for Legacy Farms, the developer in exchange agreed to perform certain favors for the town.

I think there’s a Latin term for that kind of arrangement isn’t there? It eludes me…

Make that 101…

heidi08 Massachusetts Trapping Law November 7, 2013

Okay, we’re going back to Massachusetts. Hopkinton to be precise, where the waterside homeowners want some beavers dead and can’t possibly wrap their trees or solve their flooding problem by hiring expert Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions who lives an unfathomable 77 miles away from them.

From Hopkinton, MA to Southampton, MA: 77 miles

From Grafton,VT to Martinez,CA 2991 miles.

I guess a miss really IS as good as a mile, when what you’re missing is information.

Hopkinton woman urges approval of trapping bill

A Hopkinton woman and her neighbors who are unhappy over flooding caused by beaver dams urged lawmakers on Wednesday to pass a bill that would make it easier for trappers to use deadlier traps.

“It’s a big mess for homeowners,” DelGaudio said, telling the room about her own flooding problems and those of her neighbors. Water is rising around septic systems, pools and sheds, not to mention homes themselves, she said, especially in the past four to six months.

But trappers, including Rick Merchant, who spoke at the session, need permission from local boards of health to use traps that kill beavers. A 1996 ballot question made lethal traps illegal and animal rights groups continue to oppose them. The new bill would reverse parts of that law.

Beavers are also causing headaches for homeowners in other MetroWest towns, including Holliston. In that town, trappers only need permission in the off-season to trap using Conibear, the “quick kill,” traps, said Health Agent Ann McCobb.

Just so we’re clear, the rules need to be followed in every city in the state, and the rules say you can still kill beavers just not with crush traps. As inconvenient as it might seem you need to live trap them and then shoot them through the head. Unless one of NINE EXCEPTIONS are met, and then you can kill them ol’ any way you like.

The above provision shall not apply to the use of prohibited devices by federal and state departments of health or municipal boards of health for the purpose of protection from threats to human health and safety. A threat to human health and safety may include, but shall not be limited to:

(a) beaver or muskrat occupancy of a public water supply;

(b) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of drinking water wells, well fields or water pumping stations;

(c) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of sewage beds, septic systems or sewage pumping stations;

(d) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of a public or private way, driveway, railway or airport runway or taxi-way;

(e) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of electrical or gas generation plants or transmission or distribution structures or facilities, telephone or other communications facilities or other public utilities;

(f) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding affecting the public use of hospitals, emergency clinics, nursing homes, homes for the elderly or fire stations;

(g) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding affecting hazardous waste sites or facilities, incineration or resource recovery plants or other structures or facilities whereby flooding may result in the release or escape of hazardous or noxious materials or substances;

(h) the gnawing, chewing, entering, or damage to electrical or gas generation, transmission or distribution equipment, cables, alarm systems or facilities by any beaver or muskrat;

(i) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding or structural instability on property owned by the applicant if such animal problem poses an imminent threat of substantial property damage or income loss, which shall be limited to: (1) flooding of residential, commercial, industrial or commercial buildings or facilities; (2) flooding of or access to commercial agricultural lands which prevents normal agricultural practices from being conducted on such lands; (3) reduction in the production of an agricultural crop caused by flooding or compromised structural stability of commercial agricultural lands; (4) flooding of residential lands in which the municipal board of health, its chair or agent or the state or federal department of health has determined a threat to human health and safety exists. The department of environmental protection shall make any determination of a threat to a public water supply.

It’s funny how I have never in six years read a single article that even obliquely MENTIONED these 9 exceptions to the trapping law. I guess they’re too busy writing how miserable beavers make things and how the voters ruined their lives in 1996. They never forget to mention that fact, do they?

The traps are inhumane and indiscriminate, said Linda Huebner, deputy director of advocacy department of MSPCA.

“They can catch whatever animal happens upon them,” she said.

The problem is not that there are too many beavers, but that humans have settled in areas too near beaver habitats, she said.

She said trapping won’t solve the problem permanently. One of several smarter solutions, she said, are flow devices, designed to outsmart beavers so water can flow through dams.

“If the habitat can support beavers, other beavers will populate that site,” she said.

Ahh Linda, we are so happy you’re out there in the trenches! Fighting the good fight. I wrote the reporter too and she said she’s working on a longer piece about beavers and goodness my website has a lot of information and would I like to chat?

Guess what I said.