The Great Beaver Rescue of Aught-Seven
(No, this is not a dirty story. Keep reading.)
I stopped by Dred Moo this Sunday to say hi to Kathy and Dan, and Kathy said that she had something to show me. She took me through the back door on the empty side of the booth onto the back deck. Down by the edge of the pond was a big, fat, beaver. It was just lying there, not really moving at all. We couldn't see its tail because it was tucked under the rest of the beaver, so Kathy thought it might be a woodchuck. I have previous experience with castor canadensis, so I knew it was most definitely a beaver.
Since it wasn't moving, I was concerned for the poor rodent. Remembering an incident involving baby snapping turtles the previous weekend, I deduced that the best people to ask for help would be the bear/birds of prey folks.
Of course as I was hustling my butt over to the bears as quickly as I could, everyone AND THEIR MOM wanted roses. Eventually I made it over to Jay, who told me that he was stuck with the bears, and I needed to go talk to the people at Birds of Prey.
At Birds of Prey, the show was about to start. I couldn't find any of the people who Jay told me might be able to help, so I found Drew and Rocky. Drew said he would help, he would just have to put Rocky down. We went through backstage chessboard to the rear entrance of the parrot enclosure. Drew went to grab this teeny little parrot-catching net, at which point myself and another gentleman (whose name I did not catch) explained to him that while beavers are rodents, they are in fact quite large. Leather gloves wouldn't help either, since a beaver can chew through just about any type of wood without a second thought.
Off we went back to Dred Moo, Bubbles and Drew to the rescue! I took him through the back door. Now the poor beaver was lying on its back with all four legs in the air. For a second, I thought it had died while I was trying to find help, but then it rolled over onto its side. We could see its tail now.
There was some concern that the little beast might be rabid, since it still seemed completely unconcerned at our presence. Drew went around to get closer to the critter, in order to better assess its condition. As soon as he got within two feet of it, the beaver sat up, gave Drew the most offended look a beaver could possibly give a person, slipped into the pond, and swam off.
He was fine all along, the bastard! Drew said that he probably hangs out there pretty often, since there aren't alot of plants growing in that spot, and there's a little spiggot spraying water right next to it. It's a comfy little beaver bunk!
Now when anyone tries to tell you that there can't possibly be beavers at the faire, you can tell them that they are sadly mistaken.
I stopped by Dred Moo this Sunday to say hi to Kathy and Dan, and Kathy said that she had something to show me. She took me through the back door on the empty side of the booth onto the back deck. Down by the edge of the pond was a big, fat, beaver. It was just lying there, not really moving at all. We couldn't see its tail because it was tucked under the rest of the beaver, so Kathy thought it might be a woodchuck. I have previous experience with castor canadensis, so I knew it was most definitely a beaver.
Since it wasn't moving, I was concerned for the poor rodent. Remembering an incident involving baby snapping turtles the previous weekend, I deduced that the best people to ask for help would be the bear/birds of prey folks.
Of course as I was hustling my butt over to the bears as quickly as I could, everyone AND THEIR MOM wanted roses. Eventually I made it over to Jay, who told me that he was stuck with the bears, and I needed to go talk to the people at Birds of Prey.
At Birds of Prey, the show was about to start. I couldn't find any of the people who Jay told me might be able to help, so I found Drew and Rocky. Drew said he would help, he would just have to put Rocky down. We went through backstage chessboard to the rear entrance of the parrot enclosure. Drew went to grab this teeny little parrot-catching net, at which point myself and another gentleman (whose name I did not catch) explained to him that while beavers are rodents, they are in fact quite large. Leather gloves wouldn't help either, since a beaver can chew through just about any type of wood without a second thought.
Off we went back to Dred Moo, Bubbles and Drew to the rescue! I took him through the back door. Now the poor beaver was lying on its back with all four legs in the air. For a second, I thought it had died while I was trying to find help, but then it rolled over onto its side. We could see its tail now.
There was some concern that the little beast might be rabid, since it still seemed completely unconcerned at our presence. Drew went around to get closer to the critter, in order to better assess its condition. As soon as he got within two feet of it, the beaver sat up, gave Drew the most offended look a beaver could possibly give a person, slipped into the pond, and swam off.
He was fine all along, the bastard! Drew said that he probably hangs out there pretty often, since there aren't alot of plants growing in that spot, and there's a little spiggot spraying water right next to it. It's a comfy little beaver bunk!
Now when anyone tries to tell you that there can't possibly be beavers at the faire, you can tell them that they are sadly mistaken.