Natural History

Posted in Labrador retriever, working retrievers | Tagged beaver, Labrador retriever | 8 Comments

8 Responses

1. on October 23, 2012 at 9:07 pm cyborgsuzy

   Naturally. What else would you do with a beaver?

   
   
2. on October 24, 2012 at 6:29 am chervilmeadow

   Our ancestors in Britain killed off the native population of european beavers a few hundred years ago. However, they are now being reintroduced, initially to suitable areas of Scotland. Beavers,being such easy prey to humans, require some protection,do they not? So tell me, how are they protected in North America these days.
   Our British badgers are in slightly similar position in that they advertise where they live and can be easily killed by sufficently nasty people withy nothing better to do which is why they have such heavy legal protection thank god.

   Yesterday our government cancelled a project which would have involved the shooting of thousands of badgers in an experimental cull within a couple of areas of the country aimed at seeing how much this might reduce the incidence of bovine TB. The minister said ” now too late in the year” whatever that means, but many see it as a way of backing down. The science of the project is under dispute and there is huge opposition within the country.

   As a mere Brit I know little of the need to protect American beavers but, since you have raised the subject, tell us why it may be okay to kill America’s beavers in 2012. Easy targets, no doubt, but how many beavers are estimated to exist in America these days?

   
   
   • on October 24, 2012 at 7:00 am retrieverman

     Don’t worry. American beaver populations are on the increase. They were over exploited in the earlier centuries of settlement, but they are now coming back. And they are actually nuisances in some areas: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6992.html

     This guy actually lives off the land, and he uses all the meat and fur from what he kills. He does not kill endangered species.

     You may be shocked to see him shooting lynx (what he calls “link”) in traps, but not only sells the fur, he eats the meat.

     
     
   • on October 24, 2012 at 10:16 am massugu

     Beavers have even moved into metropolitan areas in the crowed eastern US. A few years ago, I had to laugh when some of the AR folks in a Columbia, MD started complaining about the damage that immigrant beavers were doing to their ornamental trees.

     BTW: The disease vector argument, this time concerning Brucellosis, has been used here in the states to justify “culling” any Bison that wander out of the National Parks. In this case, too, the science behind the claims has been dodgy.

     
     
   • on October 25, 2012 at 6:19 am megrim43

     Just heard on the radio that the badger cull will take place next year, and will be extended to cover a lot more of England.

     For those who don`t know, the theory is that taking out 75% (minimum) of English badgers will reduce bovine TB by 15%.

     I live in Scotland. We have lots of badgers (some living on my property) and a thriving dairy industry. We are officially bovine TB free.

     Go figure!

     On a different point, where does this beaver eater live? Because I am fascinated by his accent…sounds to me like Irish with an New England overlay. Never heard anything quite like it before.

     Elizabeth

     
     
     • on October 25, 2012 at 9:04 am retrieverman

       Northwest Territories in Canada.

       I believe he’s an Anglo-Metis.

       
       
3. on October 25, 2012 at 7:33 am chervilmeadow

   Belfast a long time ago maybe, Elizabeth?
   As for the projected badger cull starting next year, personally I don’t think it will get very far against a predictable build-up of popular opposition and not forgetting the fragility of this coalition government.
   However, looking at things from an earlier disease perspective, my wife’s dairy farming family in Wales were badly affected by TB back in the 1930’s: first her maternal grandmother dying from it and then her mother’s sister. My wife’s mother survived even though she had cared for the two who died in their final illness. To what extent this may have been connected to cattle I don’t know as it was not spoken about nor was it adequately researched back then.
   Subseqently the death of his wife and daughter drove Mary’s grandfather insane and the two survivors, Mary’s mother and her very young brother, both came to England after Mary’s mother married her Welsh fiance from a neighbouring farm Here they set up, would you believe, a succesful dairy business. It seems incredible now but neither of my inlaws spoke good English at that time, as they came from a mainly Welsh speaking rural area.

   Of course TB in humans was virtually defeated in the following decades, although there has been some very slight reappearance due to the subsequent immigration of people from a part of the world where TB still occurs.

   
   
4. on October 25, 2012 at 1:05 pm chervilmeadow

   This is Thursday 25th October and the UK parliament has just announced today that the projected badger cull has been abandoned “completely”.

   
   

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