Fur for the Future
@GardenGerty (169477)
United States
January 6, 2016 7:55pm CST
My husband is reading his latest issue of the magazine Fur Fish and Game . In an article it mentions a program to repopulate beaver in the backwoods of Idaho in the 1940s and '50s. Some of the measures included dropping beavers with parachutes into the areas they wanted to repopulate. It seems to have been successful and the videos were popular all over the world. The article says to see it at the linked website and on Youtube.
I am struggling with this image of beavers being dropped in the back woods. It blows my mind. You may want to fast forward to the middle of the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLz2bTprMA
It is a fourteen minute video, but the thought of it just grabbed me.
Welcome to the Idaho Fish and Game website, the source of comprehensive information on the pursuit of hunting and fishing activities and opportunities in the state of Idaho.
9 people like this
10 responses
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
I found it difficult to imagine when he read it to me. I did not think of the crates and cages. In the long run they had a better home but it did seem very stressful at first.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502491)
• Italy
8 Jan 16
@GardenGerty It is what I thought, the poor beavers were very stressed at first.
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
That would be extreme also. I guess I just hum along in my own little world. We go out and look around and see evidence of wildlife, but not always sure how they got there.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Jan 16
@GardenGerty You would think the animals would be very disoriented and befuddled if suddenly dropped off in a totally strange environment.
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
7 Jan 16
I'll have to show my husband this one. He will no doubt find it amusing.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
Good old hunter trapper husbands. This magazine is one of hubby's indulgences. He has trapped and tracked a variety of animals long before I met him.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
And it was so remote they had to do it that way I guess, although hubby pointed out that they got the camera out to film it somehow.
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
I confess to not watching the whole thing, but I am glad I saw part of it, because I imagined them being dropped in harnesses and it turns out they were dropped in crates that pop open when they touch ground.
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Jan 16
My eyes are bad but you did say dropping beavers with parachutes. Hmmmm really they actually did that? Gotta read that article.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
It involves a video as well. It turns out that they trap them, cage them, weigh them, match them up size wise and let some out by hand but more remotely they drop them in special crates that pop open when they touch the ground.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Jan 16
@GardenGerty I couldn't find the article using the link you provided, but I did go to youtube and saw several videos on the subject. Pretty darn amazing.
@celticeagle (189833)
• Boise, Idaho
7 Jan 16
I was just watching a episode of Mysteries at the Museum and it had a story about the dropping of the beavers. I thought it was funny and wrote my girlfriend about it. I had no idea. Didn't teach us about it in Idaho History.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
7 Jan 16
I will have to look at it later as I am headed out for work very soon. I am intrigued by their methods of dropping the beavers into the back woods. I wonder what the reactions of the beavers were to their new homes as well.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
Well since this took place sixty years ago they have the evidence that the populations have increased. I did not imagine the steps that were taken to get to that point. I also wonder how they collected the downed parachutes, cause those beavers did not stop and fold them.
@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
7 Jan 16
Isn't it strange the things that are done to 'protect' and preserve' wildlife?
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169477)
• United States
7 Jan 16
It made me wonder, I mean I know they probably had too dense a population, and I am glad they did not kill them. Hubby found it strange that they were able to film it.
