We are in a golden bubble where so many good things are happening for beavers I’m not really sure where to start again. The wonderful teacher from yesterday friended me on facebook and has been saying that her children want to go on a fieldtrip to the threatened dam in Richmond. The story of Port Moody deciding to co-exist with beavers was everywhere yesterday including the CBC! And the cutest baby beaver in the entire world made the today show.

Is that enough to start?

B.C. city to create new beaver management plan after baby beaver drowns during relocation

The City of Port Moody is creating a beaver management plan after a baby beaver died during a relocation operation in December, leaving residents “heartstricken.”

The kit and its family had been living in a storm drain pipe near Pigeon Creek since the fall. City officials said their dam was beginning to block the culvert, so the animals needed to be moved to avoid flooding.

Two adult beavers and one of their offspring were successfully taken out of the pipe in December, but the second kit drowned after workers set a trap.

Please note the photo. The CBC has considerable photo archives at its disposal and can pick any beaver photo it likes. When the story is a negative one saying beavers cause flooding or ruin crops you would NEVER see a photo like this. It would be chewed tree or an adult eating on the bank. Something that looks like a problem.

This photo looks like a parent.

After public outcry, Coun. Meghan Lahti asked city staff to create a plan that recognizes beavers as part of the community and recommends that beaver colonies should remain undisturbed whenever possible. City staff are now preparing an official plan to present for council’s approval.

Hurray for Port Moody and the beaver management plan! Hurray for any news stories that see a beaver family as parents instead of problems! What a wonderful note to end the week of wonderful news!

If there is one thing I regret about our beavers, it’s that we were never able to use all that public response to get a promise to secure their safety, or to coexist with future beavers. The council just NEVER was willing to say a decision had been reached to keep them safe. Ever. Ever. Ever.

But they were safe anyway, So I guess we didn’t do too bad.

Meet Justin Beaver, a rescued orphan who’s eager to build dams out of toys

JB, as he’s known, was orphaned last summer when he was about 8 weeks old. Now he lives with wildlife rehabilitator Brigette Brouillard, the 45-year-old founder and director of Second Chances Wildlife Center in Mt. Washington, Kentucky.

JB was orphaned so young that he doesn’t really know how to be a beaver. So he can’t be released into the wild. Instead, he’s licensed by the federal government as an “educational animal.” That means he’ll stay permanently with Brouillard, and go with her to places like schools and libraries to help teach people about wildlife..

Ahhh good ole’ Kentucky. They keep obligingly making SO MANY ORPHANS that there must be a heckuva lot of educational animals with flat tails. (And plenty of other kinds of tails too,) Well, these photos are really cute so we’re just going to agree that he’s the luckiest beaver in the ENTIRE state and leave it at that.

Now stop being sorry for him and go watch him try to build a dam with pillows, dammit.