The very best reason to click on the video at the left, sent to me by a beaver friend from the region, isn’t because it has astounding and unparalleled claims of beaver damage. Beaver flooding is pretty unremarkable and much the same the world over. Or for the surprisingly myopic muskrat closeup in the middle – we all know cases of mistaken beaver identity are nothing new. No, the reason you should stop everything and click on the video and tolerate the short ad t’s to see the breathtaking beaver dam of 30 meters long across Buck’s lake in Kingston. For a moment I was so jealous I felt faint. Sigh.
The article is talking about the area of land thats like a liquid-laden right toe of Ontario, but even considering all that water their reported numbers of beavers killed are alarming. 6oo a year. That’s almost Hudson bay numbers. Wikipedia tells me that the entire basin of all of Ontario itself is less than 62000 square miles of water.
Surprisingly, although the number of dead beavers is going up, the number of trappers is going down. The article blames the tumbling price of beaver pelts.
In the 1980s, the trappers council had more than 100 registered beaver trappers. It currently has 30 active members. “There’s no money in it,” Deline said. “It actually costs money to do it,” he added, explaining trapping has become a hobby instead of a livelihood. “The old guys do it instead of golfing.“
“Wanna play a few rounds on Saturday, Ethan?” “Nah, my game is shot since the shoulder’s acting up. Let’s go kill some flat-tails instead!” My disbelief isn’t caused by wondering who in their right mind would find recreation in killing families, (because let’s be honest, it’s probably not the WORST thing these men do to amuse themselves). No, my disbelief comes from the quote. Who would say that? Out loud? To a reporter? Aside from the inhumanity of it I can’t imagine it makes your time appear very valuable. I assume you’d rather get paid for this labor than do it for free. That isn’t going to happen if you describe your services to national media as a HOBBY.
My favorite part of the good ol- boy commentary comes at the end,
“With the beavers causing such problems in Kingston it begs the question, much loved national symbol or public enemy number one? The answer depends on who you talk to.”
Public enemy number 1? Really? It’s good to know that as a nation you can prioritize. The Department of National Defense in Canada reported a budget for 2009 of c$19.5 billion. My calculator doesn’t reach up that high but since it’s your number one priority I’m sure you’ll be relieved to know that you can build a nearly infinite number of flow devices with that amount.
Just sayin’.
