If this photo looks familiar – it should. It appears in the charmingly titled article “What you can shoot, and when you can shoot it” by Maine sportsmen, George Smith. In 2010 he stepped down after 18 years as executive director of the Sportsman Alliance in Maine. And now writes this beloved column for the Bangor Daily News. Apparently, he never had enough time trapping beavers to take his own dam photos. And the paper thought he should just borrow ours without asking.
This was taken on June 22, 2008, of our second batch of beaver kits. Funny thing is, it also happens to be the kit Mario chose to paint on his downtown mural that was ordered to be removed. Remember those fun days? And he’s also chosen to add it to the lower left corner of the mural we’re currently trying to get approved. Popular beaver kit that. No wonder the paper snagged it.
I’m sure a charitable person would point out that Mr. Smith probably didn’t go hunting down that trophy photo himself – it was likely inserted by a copy editor or some intern. But we are certain Mr. Smith looked at his own article to see how it read, or shared it with a friend. He must have seen the photo and seen it was unattributed.
So I’m choosing to blame him until further notice.