Beavers Set To Make Return To Habitat After Rehabilitation
(KUTV) “It’s been a long process,” says Dalyn Erickson Marthaler from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah, “It’s nothing short of a miracle that they all survived.”
Hurray for the Utah beavers! Who have made enough progress to be released without provoking a panicked SOS across every beaver advocate’s email this time. Hurray for DaLyn and her team, and hurray for 6 very brave beavers. Only one isn’t ready for release, and I’m sorry for her, or him, but hopefully they will get there. And as they paddle back into their epic lives, I have only one question.
How will I get my fix of beavers-in-towels pictures now?
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Another touching email yesterday that you might enjoy:
Hi Heidi,
I’ve been bringing my Grandson to visit the beavers since 2010, the day after the Mom died. Now I bring his sister too and when my Granddaughter visits from Austin she always asks “Grammie what night are we going to see our beavers?”. We visited this past Friday night, there was no one around and my granddaughter spotted one of the kits within her first 30 seconds on the bridge (we got some good pix)!! We drew a crowd in no time and my two little experts 8 and 6 yrs old had to shush everyone and tell everything they knew about ‘their’ beavers.
We met you a couple of times by the primary dam before the two others were built and I just want to say “thank you” for being so kind and explaining so much to my Gkids! Because of this, I’m sure they will forever be Beaver Advocates! Hope to see you again soon so we can thank you in person!
Please let me know if you ever sell “Worth A Dam” T-shirts – we will need 4 for sure!
Sincerely,
Christine, Canyon 8, Sienna 6 and Lola 5
Aw, Christine! Your letter and photo are perfect! Since we don’t have any children sized shirts I’m sending her a do-it-yourself keystone species charm necklace. Her grandchildren always miss the festival for a family reunion, it seems. So this time they will get to participate. Maybe they could use the charms to explain why beavers are good for creeks to their friends!
Speaking of “our beavers’, Jon and I waited from 6:30 until 8 last night with nary a sighting of our furry friends. I was starting to get pretty dam nervous and imagine all the terrible things that might have befallen, Jon scouting up and down from the primary to the secondary without a glimpse. When at 8:00 on the button all three kits, mom and junior sprung as if from thin air onto the scene. We were so happy to see them and hear them again. They looked entirely ordinary and offered no explanation for their tardiness. As soon as they arrived, Gail the lyricist for the Raging Grannies arrived with her friend from Palo Alto! It was old home week while we heartily enjoyed the reunion. And in honor of her visit you might enjoy re-reading (or singing) this:
As I walked OUT on the streets of Martinez As I walked OUT by the creekside one day I SPIED a young Beaver all wrapped up in branches A-BUILD-ing with branches, a-building with clay I SEE by your FA-cial expression that you are Sur-PRIS-ed to see me the beaver did say We’ve COME to improve on the town’s situation To see that Mar-TIN-ez is famous some day We’ll FIX up the HA-bitat here in the creekbed You’ll SEE lots of WILDLIFE will COME here to live So CALL off the TRAP-pers and call off the shooters You’ll See that we beavers have gifts for to give The COUN-cil they fretted, they TEXTed O-M-G Will there now be FLOODING to wash us away But WIS-er folk CALLED in a manly VerMONTer Our HERO’S in-VEN-tion meant beavers could stay Still WE must stand UP for them, we must protect them Though THE mama beaver is with us no more So PEOple can COME and can see them in nature For beavers are NOW a proud PART of our lore______________________________________________________
Finally, a hearty greeting to Worth A Dam’s all around man-friday, who has toured, chatted, lifted, carried, set-up, taken down, hosted and entertained every step of the way. Happy Birthday, Jon!
