Isn’t that funny? A beaver walking around the road where everyone in Nashua goes to pick up their children from Dr. Norman Crisp school. Nashua is the second biggest town in the state and twice named ‘the best place to live in New Hampshire’ by Money magazine. The woman in this photo apparently saw a child ‘taunting’ the beaver and called 911 to get him taken care of. Of course 911 said ‘we don’t do beavers’ and the beaver was left to his own devices. Nearsighted, separated from his family, and far too low to be seen by even the most cautious driver, the brave beaver continued on his ill-fated journey. And the children and their parents continued to enjoy staring at him and taking photos and maybe there was even as a contest at the newspaper for the best headline. ‘Why did the beaver cross the road‘ was an obvious win, but ‘How is a beaver like a speed bump‘ came in a solid second.
Yes taunting is childish and not very nice, but you know what they say, ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me and a couple impatient autos can run me over flatter than the proverbial pancake.”
So the inexplicable city of Nashua spent an entire day stopping and staring at the young beaver, taunting the beaver, snapping a million photos, shooting video and gossiping about it on the local rag, but not one citizen in the population of 86,000 people could actually, you know, DO ANYTHING about it all day, because six hours later there was this headline:
Visiting beaver dies after being struck by car
NASHUA – A beaver that was spotted on Arlington Street on Thursday and attracted a small crowd of onlookers never made it back to the water. The beaver was put down later Thursday because it had been struck by a car and suffered serious injuries, Nashua Police Sgt. William Dillon said Friday.
Beavers die. It happens all the time, and we both know it. But something about this story is even more upsetting than the usual heartless trapping tales where beavers are killed for their own good or for ours. Because these people obviously enjoyed this rare sighting, they thought it was cool enough to snap a photo or shoot some video with their iphone so they could show their co-workers or their neighbors. Maybe children excitedly told their dads about it at the dinner table or looked up beavers on wikipedia that night.People were interested in this beaver – but no one was interested enough to care.
I’ve been a psychologist long enough to understand Bystander Apathy is always shocking, but this story got under my skin in a way I didn’t expect. Maybe it got under your skin too. If it did you should add your comments to the article so Nashua learns what it was supposed to do for next time.
