One for the good guys! Team beaver did a wonderful job in Roosevelt forest, Connecticut. Apparently there was enough of an outpouring that the powers that be actually stopped what they were doing and listened for once. Hurray!
Forest Commission to endorse beaver trapping ban
The uproar caused by the trapping and killing of beavers in Roosevelt Forest will prompt the forest’s commissioners to call for a ban on trapping.
Forest Commission Chairman Bob David said Tuesday that the commission is expected to approve a resolution that would ban trapping of animals or birds in the forest or any public park in town. The commission will vote on the measure at its meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Town Hall.
The resolution reads in part that the town code “prohibits hunting and trapping in Roosevelt Forest” and states that “No person shall do any hunting or trapping of any game birds or animals or discharge any firearms of any kind whatsoever, set any traps or use any bows or other devices for the taking of any birds or animals within the bounds and limits of Roosevelt Forest or any public park located in the Town of Stratford.”
The resolution would also call for the creation of a nuisance Wildlife Subcommittee “to create a long-term wildlife management plan to preserve the forest for safe and enjoyable usage by all town residents for decades to come.”
Hurray for the good folk involved! Protests, letters and public comment. Sometimes it takes enough of a clamor that that you become harder to live with than the beaver problems they’re trying to eliminate. Martinez should know.
Word of the trap placement angered Stratford residents and animal lovers in neighboring towns. Many said it was inhumane and unfair for the town to kill beavers when the animals are only doing what comes naturally to them. Town officials said previously that they had tried to remove one of the dams in order to prevent the beavers from rebuilding, but they only rebuilt.
So far, two beavers have been caught and killed in the traps that were set, said Public Safety Director Larry Ciccarelli. The remaining traps that are in place will be removed tonight, he said.
“What’s important is that as [David] and I worked through this problem, we gained more information and we found information that would help manage the situation in a kindler, gentler fashion than we knew at the beginning,” Ciccarelli said.
Ciccarelli said the solution they heard about was something they had not heard about before. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said state laws prevent the relocation of beavers.
Let’s be clear. Saying they ‘gained more information‘ is a blazing lie, because I know that myself AND Beaver: Wetlands and Wildlife personally wrote them at the start and told them exactly what to do and how to do it. The ‘information‘ they gained is that other people figured this out too, and weren’t going to stop shouting it in their ears any time soon.
Which I admit, is a revelation of sorts.
I am reminded of the old joke about the stubborn mule. A farmer bragged that all he had to do was ask politely and the mule would do anything he wanted. Then he loaned the mule to his neighbor to plow a field. The mule absolutely refused to pull the plow, so the neighbor dragged him back angrily.
“You said he’d do anything I wanted if I just asked politely. You lied! He won’t even pull the plow.”
The farmer stopped what he was doing and picked up a two by four. He walked over to the mule and walloped him aside the head. (Mind you, when I first heard this joke it was much cringe-worthy and involved a pair of bricks and an appendage) Then he smiled.
” You just need to get his attention, first.”
Now, I was told this joke about teaching teenagers, and I never liked it. But it makes dam good sense about city officials and beavers. Just think of Worth A Dam as a big two by four or pair of bricks, and you get the idea.
