In colder areas, that thaw more slowly, beaver dispersal comes closer to March or April than our February. Unfortunately, for our low-to-the-ground pilgrims, waterways are often flanked with roadways, leaving many beavers to get hit by cars. Sometimes though, there is a nice Canadian Mountie on hand to help guide them.
Beaver Holds Up Traffic, RCMP Officer Can’t Get It To Move
A beaver and a Mountie squared off in a battle of Canadian icons Friday on a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway. Greater Victoria police were conducting speed enforcement on the Malahat highway on Vancouver Island when they noticed a motorcyclist trying to slow down traffic.
“One of my RCMP colleagues went up to find out what the commotion was, and it was a beaver in the right hand of two lanes,” he said. According to CFAX 1010, a family of beavers was initially holding up traffic, but this one just didn’t want to budge.
“It wasn’t particularly fazed by anything going on around it, it was quite obstinate and quite happily sat there in the middle of this laneway,” Dunstan said. Eventually, the beaver backed off and moved off the road on its own.“What can be more iconic than an RCMP officer — a Mountie — moving along this great Canadian symbol, the beaver,” Dunstan told the Victoria Times-Colonist. “It was perfect.”
That poor beaver wasn’t about to give up on his quest to find new territory, but thank goodness the officer was on hand to get him to try another way. I love that this made the Huffington Post. And especially love that their slide show of beavers are all actually beavers!
I’m curious about the report that there was a family initially. Not sure what that means. But I’ve been thinking about the part of Enos Mills “In Beaver World” I’m still scratching my head about. And that was the chapters about beaver migration. He wrote that from time to time they moved in large herds to find new habitat.
Seriously.
“The ann
ual migration is a different affair. This has been noted for some hundred and fifty years or more and probably gone on for centuries. This peculiar migration might be called a migratory outing. In it all members of the colony appear to have taken part, leaving home in June and scattering as the season advanced. Rambles were made up and down stream, and other beaver settlements visited, brief stays were made at lakes, adventures had up shallow brooks and daring journeys made on portages. The country was explored. The dangers and restrictions imposed during the last 25 years appear in some localities to have checked this movement, and in others to have stopped it completely. But in most it still goes on, although probably not usually enjoyed by mothers and children except to a limited extent.”
Enos Mills In Beaver World
This is how beaver once found new streams, new homes, or new mates. And how parents made sure their children were starting out correctly. Our snaking roadway dangers mean it no longer occurs except for maybe in remotest areas like that massive beaver dam in Canada that’s visible from space. It’s charming to imagine though. Beavers on a ‘migratory outing.’ If you haven’t yet been christened by reading Mills, you really should.
This crossed my path yesterday and I just had to share. If you were raised on King Arthur’s ‘lady of the lake‘ mythology you’ll understand.
