It seems like just days ago that Ben Goldfarb was privately admonishing me for berating the fact that the New York Times has never managed to print even a positive paragraph about beavers. I believe his exact words were “Never say never”. Well yesterday they reminded me how greatly they dislike the rodent. Even finding time in an article about yuppies escaping to the country to mention how horrible they were.

They Fled for Greener Pastures, and There Were Weeds

City dwellers, who retreated to rural areas in the pandemic, now see drawbacks, from pests and social isolation to the difficulty of finding day care and health care

For Andrew Joseph, the unexpected challenge of rural living was summed up in a single word: beavers. Mr. Joseph was enchanted by baby beavers swimming in the brook on his four-acre property in the town of Saugerties, N.Y., where he and his partner, Paul Pearson, have been sheltering since March 2020.

“I quickly learned that they’re horrible, nasty creatures that wreak havoc and destruction,” said Mr. Joseph, the head of a Manhattan public relations firm who still maintains a home in Harlem. The beavers dammed the brook in three places, creating a swamp behind the house, and built a den that is “the size of a small van.”

HORRIBLE, NASTY CREATURES THAT WREAK HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION! That sounds like a movie with the screen play written by Stephen King. I can hear the sound track now. Jaws has nothing that scary.

Mr. Joseph, 51, applied for a permit to remove the animals and awaited a visit from a beaver trapper. After a preliminary visit, he never showed up again, though a bear did.

Then one night the couple heard gunshots from a neighbor’s property, and, lo, the beavers were gone.

Because honestly, why SOLVE a problem when you can just kill it instead? The Putin school of management, amIrite? I believe after ten years of reading over depredation permits I know this man. And his neighbor who filed the shots. I have never set foot in upstate NY but I recognize him completely.

According to a report published in November by the New York State comptroller based on United States Postal Service change-of-address forms, a trend in migration from New York City following the March 2020 lockdown had reversed itself as of July 2021, motivated by the reopening of schools, offices and arts and entertainment offerings.

[Others have] no complaints about her rural life, though more takeout would be appreciated.Ms. Schaich, a New York-based marketing consultant in the design industry, likes the people, the politics (which mostly align with her own) and not least, the beauty. She dons a colorful vest during hunting season without resentment, to avoid getting shot.

Some are ready for the transition and some aren’t. From this article it appears that hunting and trapping seem to influence how ready you are. You know how John Muir was always hiking Yosemite and shooting things. When he wasn’t busy trapping beaver.

Sheesh.