beavers and wolverines

I. STORY OF BEAVER (Kaska tales).

A long time ago, when all the animals were people, Beaver was a great transformer. He travelled along a wide trail that was much used. Along the trail were many monsters that preyed on people. He came to a place where people always disappeared. Wolverene killed them. His house was at the foot of a glacier, between two rocky bluffs. The glacier was very slippery, and people crossing it slid down to the bottom, where they were transfixed on a spear placed there by Wolverene. As soon as something touched the spear, Wolverene knew it, and came out at once. If they were dead, he carried the bodies home; if they were only wounded, he killed them. His house was full of peoples’ bones.

Beaver went down this slide, and, cutting his lips with the spear so that they bled, pretended to be dead. Wolverene knew something had been caught, and came out smiling and very happy.When he saw Beaver, he said, “What a large beaver! ” Then he laughed, and said, ” I have caught this clever man.” He carried the body home and put it down in his house.

He had four flensing-knives. He used one after another, but they would not cut Beaver’s skin. Then he searched for the fourth knife. Beaver knew that this knife would cut him, so he opened his eyes to see where he might find a stick.

One of Wolverene’s children noticed him, and called out, “Father, the Beaver has opened his eyes!” Wolverene answered, “You are mistaken. How can a dead man open his eyes?” Beaver jumped up and seized a stick, with which he broke Wolverene’s arms and legs. He killed him, and put his body before the fire to roast. He also killed all Wolverene’s children, and treated their bodies likewise.”

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Wow. Beaver-wolverine conflict prequel! I guess we know a little more about how the feud starts! Hmm…I wish the reporter who was photographed nailing the beaver to the tree to attract wolverines could read this! There are about 40 more such adventures all printed here, where beaver is a smart, savvy, problem-solver that knows when to run and when to be strong. But most importantly a TRANSFORMER, (not the plastic kind) which is the part of the tale that rings absolutely true.Oh, and for all those folks who wished beavers harm in Martinez lo, those many years ago, it may interest you all to know that it turns out that despite his amiable good nature, the animal is fairly unencumbered by an impulse to forgive, as his later run-in with the Ravens finally reveals:

“They begged to be let off. Beaver, however, had no mercy on them, and burned them alive in the camp-fire, saying, “What about the people you have killed? Why should I spare you?”

(Now if you’re wondering where the word KASKA comes from and where the people who spun these tales lived, look north, because come to think of it there’s even a state name that almost steals the label completely.)

Reprinted from THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE, Vol. XXX., No. CXVIII., OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1917 BY JAMES A. TEIT.

You know what they say, Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. And three times is a trend.

This year has the mysterious fortune of beginning on a grisly note where beaver carcasses are being featured on the front page from Alberta to Idaho. If 2012 was the year of the rabid beaver, 2013 seems to be the year of the mangled beaver. Hopefully this is a fad that has had its 15 minutes, but we may see more of this before the year is through.

The day I nailed a frozen beaver carcass to a tree

It started last month with the Calgary Herald’s article about nailing frozen beaver to a tree in the hopes of attracting the elusive wolverine. I remarked at the time that what if Wolverines were attracted to puppies? Would they still run a photo of a skinned one nailed to a tree on the front page?

Mirjam hammered two large nails into the [beaver] carcass, tied a string around it to haul it up the tree and climbed up the tree to start pounding it in place. Then she jumped down, handed the hammer to me and asked me to finish the task.

So that’s how I came to nail a frozen, skinned beaver to a tree. Ah, the glamorous life of a journalist.

A few weeks later a story ran about a traumatized cycler in British Columbia who had ridden upon a dead beaver whose tail had been cut off. Mind you, there are plenty of places in the world where they pay a bounty for beaver tails, so maybe it was an act of free enterprise. Because all news must be reported a photo of that beaver also ran on the front page.

BEAVER BUTCHERED

Bonita Carey and Megan Keene were riding their bikes on Errington Road Friday afternoon when they saw a sight that changed the tone of their whole day.

In the ditch at the side of the road lay a dead, mature beaver — with its tail hacked off.

The pair were horrified by what they saw.

“This is absolutely sickening, Carey said. “The fact that they butchered its tail off just makes me cringe. It’s atrocious. What if a family rode by?”

Or what if someone opened their newspaper? Maybe you can explain to me why if something is too horrible for people to see they would put it in the paper so that more people could be horrified by it?

And now a third story is reported from Idaho where a skinned beaver is being used again as Lynx bait.

Volunteers help in study of NW reclusive critters

Lynx have been documented as residents of the Purcells. Researchers can confirm individuals returning to an area through the year by fur markings captured in the photos and DNA snagged by brass gun-cleaning brushes fixed to the trees below the beaver bait.

An Oregon trapper provides the neatly skinned and cut beaver carcasses as a byproduct of his legal trapping operation, Lucid said. “We get a few at a time and stockpile

One has to feel that this wave of species insensitivity is tricking down from the northern climes like snowmelt and will reach California any minute. I recognize that reporting on this trend will leave folks asking why I would show such upsetting things on a beloved beaver website, but I realize that in all the world, in all the animal rights groups, and in all the assembled earth defenders, this is the only place that will notice that there have been three beaver carcass stories in the past 30 days. If we don’t notice, who will?

The last story is slightly less awful, and the photo less grisly, but why on earth don’t these articles run photos like this instead?