Or so Shandaken police believe. Last week, as regular readers may recall, beavers launched a most un-beaverlike attack on some tubers on the Esopus. Jay Braman Jr. reports in the Freeman:
According to James McGrath, the officer in charge of the Shandaken Police Department, officers shot at one of the beavers, and the active beaver dam along the creek was destroyed while searching for the animals.
Shandaken Police Department Detective Fred Holland said police believe one beaver was wounded by a gunshot. He said the beaver was shot by a man involved with the search who had been authorized to fire by an official of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The search was suspended after dark and resumed the following morning.
A week later, McGrath said no beaver has been found. “We believe the beaver is deceased,” he said.
If so, it's just as the fishing philosopher of Paul's Angling Journal feared. Paul took us to task the other day for getting a little too excited about Rabid Attack Beavers:
It’s their river. The river gives and makes their lives. The river is their Home. We are just visitors. At best we coexist with the beavers, bears and bugs. Humans ignorant to those facts are simply asking for it. Don’t get me wrong – that’s not to say the kids deserved it, but people who think everything in nature is cuddly and declawed are likely to get a wakeup call.
Right you are, sir. Sorry to hear this beaver/human showdown apparently didn't end well. And a word of advice to everyone who enjoys the Esopus, locals and tourists alike: Please respect the river's full-time residents.
