Now that the Russians have all finished with the American election and got what they wanted they are apparently turning their sites towards Russian Beavers. You see? I knew that Russian charity misprint wasn’t a “typo”.

Beavers face deportation to Kazakhstan and Mongolia

Tomsk region overrun with beavers and aims for a cull by hunters, or sending them abroad.

Beaver numbers have reached 6,000-plus, when a population of 4,000 is seen as avoiding harm to nature. 

They damage trees and turn agricultural land into swamps by damming rivers. 

The head of the Department of Hunting and Fishing in Tomsk Region, Viktor Sirotin, said: ‘The population has increased due to the absence of wolves.’

Hunters should be allowed to kill beavers during the spring hunt for water fowl, he said.

But scientists propose deporting the beavers instead, claiming they can be useful to the environment in Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

Researcher of the All-Russian Research Institute of Hunting and Fur Farming, Alexander Saveliev, said: ‘Where small rivers dry up, the beavers create dams, and part of the water flow is stopped.

Near as I can tell, the Tomsk region is part of Siberia that is most uninhabitable because of thick forests and marshland. Even before the beavers got there. Where on earth they got the idea that the region can safely support only 4000 beavers but now has 6000 is anyone’s guess. You know they didn’t send a team of scientists on a beaver census.

Someone wanted to shoot beavers and just made up the numbers accordingly.  You  can’t really blame the Russians. It happens all the time in America too. The article bemoans the fact that there are no predators left to eat them, and you can bet hunters are feeling restless. Give it up for the pragmatic scientists that suggest beavers might be useful at storing water in other places.

Although I’m going to wager they won’t be hiring Sherri Tippie to relocate family units together safely. I’m thinking they’ll put them in empty oil barrels and load them onto a train en masse.