The stately Bald Eagle is the national symbol of our neighbours to the south. It is a magnificent bird, an efficient hunter. It is elegant in flight, truly a symbol of the highest order. Our national symbol is the Castor Canadensis. That is the largest of North American rodents, the beaver. The symbol of our nationhood, unity and Canadian Identity is a large rodent. How did we come to this point in our history? What’s wrong with the polar bear as a symbol? It is a large carnivore, unique in many ways, definitely a stately marvelous creature, and with global warming threatening, also on the endangered list. How is that for national appeal? I vote for the polar bear.
Fossil remains on parts of Ellesmere Island indicate that a late Cenozoic version of the modern beaver existed millions of years ago and stood as high as a small black bear. Now there is a true national symbol, but back then we didn’t actually have a country, or people for that matter. By the time we did, we could have really used the grand daddy of all beavers, it was extinct.
Grant it, the beaver is really industrious. “Busy as a beaver” was an expression that constantly annoyed me as a kid, especially when it was applied to me while not demonstrating beaver-like characteristics. Oddly, I did have the habit of chewing pencils when bored or in deep thought.
In an historical sense early settlers were drawn to our vast continent in the quest and acquisition of political and religious freedom. Explorers and settlers also came to take resources such as whales, cod, and lodge pole pines for ship building. Some explorers took home boat loads of fool’s gold thinking that they had struck the mother lode. However, the main lure remained the buck-toothed, humped back beaver. It was a kin to voting for the Hunchback of Notre Dame for homing coming King.
Fur top hats were in vogue in Europe in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. Beavers numbered in the millions, fur traders trekked great distances into the wilderness to trap and trade with the natives in order to keep up with the insatiable fashion demand of Europe. True, beavers were a boon to our early economy. Beavers also appeared on numerous stamps, badges, crests, provincial flags and coins. Witness the Big Nickel in Sudbury that’s like s shrine to beavers everywhere. Beavers are capable of, (at least while operating in pairs), promoting wireless networking products on national television while dating some pretty hot looking women. Will their influence never stop?
Beavers do not, as a group, need to do any lobbying or PR on their own behalf. They have arrived and I think they know it. I’m here just to balance the argument.
Beavers do a lot of damage and this is not just some idle gossip on my part either. Correct me if I am wrong but they are the only creature, with the possible exception of coral that can manipulate, alter or otherwise transform the environment to meet their own habitat and nutritional needs. Hold on, I guess there is one other species that can do that too, and we now number 6.8 billion, but other than that.
When I lived in the “Near-North” in the oil rich region of Fort McMurray, Alberta, I walked passed a beaver pond each day on my way to the high school where I taught, Westwood. It was like Sherwood Forest with beavers. The colony I passed by each day had a few adults some yearlings and 5 or 6 kits just born over the winter. They had dammed up a creek within the city limits and in the process hacked down dozens of trees. Other than the suburban mess we humans were creating in a parallel process, the beavers without licenses, permits, and against building code, were really making a mess of the neighbourhood.
During my many walk-bys I had grown accustomed and fond of the beavers. If I walked too close to the pond, the over-bearing matriarch of the clan, or at least I presumed, would sail on by and flap her tail madly on the water like Eddy Shack (I still think the NHL has 6 teams) taking a slap shot. The other beavers on cue would dive like German U-boats in the North Atlantic, likely not reappearing until I reached my school some five minutes later. I never really timed them. Now, I do admit to getting fond of this family. That doesn’t mean I think they deserve the national iconic status they seem to enjoy today.
Apparently, a local developer shared some of my sentiments and despite much protest by environmentalists to save the pond and the colony, it came down with a flood as a back hoe, we are told, accidentally breached the dam during practice maneuvers in the vicinity. It was clearly a case of collateral damage caused by friendly fire. The damage had been done and it was irreversible.
Since this act of ethnic cleansing had taken part in the North naturally there were other beavers out and about. Thankfully, these other beavers didn’t hear about the destruction of a colony in my neighbourhood. Fortunately, there were no retaliations and like the slave rebellions or the native uprisings in our sad history the beavers were eventually pushed back to the forest from whence they came and the suburbs were allowed to expand as was the intent of the master race in the first place. Life returned to normal.
Although beavers are riding on their laurels in Canada, they are considered public enemy number one in Argentina. Yes, in South America. Somebody, maybe it was Eva Peron, (Don’t Cry for Me Argentina) thought, wouldn’t it be a wonderful idea to start a fur industry and import a few beavers. Well so it happened, but for various reasons, including a harsh climate, the beavers grew long and coarse furs which did not translate well to a Western fashion sense.
It’s not like I’m a history teacher or anything that grandiose. Put it this way, if my facts were ice you could fall through, so don’t quote me on this part. Likely, the beavers either organized an escape or were released, but not realizing how far they were from Canada stayed in the wilds of Argentina where there were no natural predators such as foxes, coyotes, lynx, otters, weasels, hawks, eagles or owls to speak; so the dozen or so intrepid settlers soon became 100 000 nuisance varmints. The evil minions of beavers are considered a curse to their local environment; much like a coal fired power plant is to our atmosphere.
It just goes to prove that one nation’s hero can be another’s worst nightmare. The Argentinean government actually pays (cover your ears) a bounty to have beavers killed, farmers do their best to run them over. It’s not a pretty picture down there. I don’t know what Eva was thinking.
Oh Canada!
Marty Rempel
