Leisure Beaver

Jim and Brenda Hardee found an early-morning surprise swimming in their pool Tuesday – a beaver. The critter spent several hours enjoying his personal pond on La. 102 north of Jennings before the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries were contacted to safety remove the animal. But the beaver had other ideas, as it disappeared shortly after its brief swim.

Daily News photo by Sheila Smith

The good people at the Daily News in Louisiana won’t show you the image unless you subscribe,  but I found this glimpse so we know its not a nutria anyway. I kind of love that he probably just dropped in to poop. It really doesn’t matter whether I get to see their photo up close. I’ve been covering the beaver beat for so long I have the perfect photo on file. It is one of my favorites.

I snagged this  photo from a Texas family who were stunned to have a ‘filthy rodent’ in their pool in 2007. I love the dog nose and the look of satisfaction on this beaver’s face  with his little stick. Don’t you know he’s just thinking ‘They all said it couldn’t be done! But look at me now!”.

Lory and my mother called this morning  to say that Samatha Clark’s article is in the Contra Costa Times today with Jon’s photo.  The article ran too long so they snipped out my quote, which is annoying but expected. I’m glad it found its way all the way to the Times and assuming from the description the photo looks something like this. Yeah beavers!