Don’t be shocked by the title. I’m just quoting what I heard. I’ll explain later, but for now I’ll just say I’ve been scooped by the Daily Mail.

It’s to to admit my total failure as a beaver journalist and humbly turn in my press pass. A couple of days ago our Saskatchewan friend posted amazing footage of the beaver Matriarch under the Canada ice and breaking through in dramatic resolve and I set the video aside intending to share it with you. I was going to call it the best thing you would ever see. But I got busy with the survey and the conference and it fell to the back of the list.

And now I’ve been scooped by the Daily Mail.

Icebreaker! Moment a beaver smashes through the frozen surface of a lake to grab a branch and then dives back underneath

Mr Digout said he had noticed the ‘adult female had a daily routine of swimming around the pond and breaking the ice at certain spots’.

The beaver, which is Canada’s official symbol, circles for a few moments before diving back below the surface. The large semi-aquatic mammals are herbivores and consume mostly tree bark, often chewing down trees for building material.

Mr Digout said he had noticed the ‘adult female had a daily routine of swimming around the pond and breaking the ice at certain spots’. The beaver, which is Canada’s official symbol, circles for a few moments before diving back below the surface. The large semi-aquatic mammals are herbivores and consume mostly tree bark, often chewing down trees for building material.

Isn’t that wonderful? And aren’t beavers wonderful? No matter how hard your day is I bet you didn’t have to start it by breaking through some ice with your head to get breakfast. Mike’s hard work and shivering effort has paid off with international fame. The Daily Mail has an odd soft spot for beavers.  They are a rough tabloid magazine that doesn’t exactly appeal to educated naturalists, but the love their beavers. They published a story about our father beaver raising the kits alone many years ago.

As long as you don’t read the comments you’ll be fine.

Still congratulations to Mike! And lets hope the high profile of Saskatchewan gets people thinking of the animal in a new way. Here’s the other video I set aside to share. Notice she’s using her teeth to nibble the ice out of the way.

Yesterday’s conference was fascinating and really fun to be a part of. Lea Knutson of the Hermit Peak Alliance gave an awesome presentation about incorporating land owner support and how to deal with their very real beaver apprehensions. They showed a new film that hasn’t been released yet about beavers as neighbors. Aaron Hall of Defenders of Wildlife gave a excellent, practical, no  nonsense talk about how to solve beaver conflicts the right way. But my favorite part was the informal presentation by organic farmer Ralph Vigil of the NM acequia commission, who said after talking about all the ways they could cause issues for farmer, in a rugged burst of enthusiasm;

“Beavers fucking belong here“

Whoa. I could not have said it better myself, Ralph.

The next one is friday and is all about why beaver. If you want to register I think you still can.