Happy Halloween to beaver friends! Our beavers looked not at all prepared for the occasion last night although they must have been a little scary because when the ten-year-old girl beside us saw them with her family for the first time her initial response was (surprisingly) “EW!” As the furry little fellows swam around in the water and walked over them dam the Ew chanced into Oh and when one grabbed a twig and started chewing noisily right in front of her it changed to AWWWWWWWW but it definitely started out as repulsion.
Which, if you think about, is a far better response arc than the city council had.
Our friends in Kings Beach trying to save the Tahoe beavers are having a meeting this week and some of the county supervisors are planning on attending. They’re going to discuss options for beaver management and show Mike’s DVD. They have invited Worth A Dam to come help explain how this is possible and offered to put us up for the night, so our own Lory will be heading to the mountains to spread the beaver gospel. Good luck Lory! Our first official high elevation evangelism!
Yet another article from Massachusetts bemoans the impossibly restrictive trapping laws in that state. I wrote the author last night about the many exceptions that allow traditional trapping and he wrote a very long response this morning, continuing to argue that it’s not nearly enough and besides trapping often introduces youth to nature and kids just don’t spend enough time outdoors these days.(!) He notes that people who are opposed to body-crushing traps are impractical PETA city folk without direct contact with nature. He added that Massachusetts now hates beavers and all because of these trapping laws. He noted that crazy animal nonprofits are all supported with big money, saying there is a “WAR going on between” scientists and animal advocates” because we never have the same goals. (!) If I want to understand the issue better I should sit down and talk to good honest trappers and find out how hard their lives are. And PS my letter should be more polite. (Which, if you are a regular reader of this blog you would know, it was pretty damn polite). I’ll see what I can do.
As for the latin title I will only say that this phrase has appeared on a tombstone in my front yard for the past 12 halloweens. Every year I tell children that whoever translates it will get the whole bag of candy but no one ever does, which is surprising considering I am within spitting distance of the Catholic Church. Some day a creative youth will use the google on their iPhone and I’ll be out a bag of candy, but in the mean time, it amuses me. Don’t worry, I promise the only other Latin you will be forced to read on this website will be the word “Castor”.
