For a hundred thousand generations we have been living with you two-leggeds. There were always things we noticed you did that were similar to our ways, like caring for large litters of playful pups, building strong lodges of sticks, playing and hunting in water. Sometimes one of us would be trapped in a net or snare of your making, but we have always accepted that some sacrifice is made in the lives of predators and prey, just as the heron skewers the minnows for its living. Our way has been to work hard, and to have lots of little ones, to ensure that the Beavers survive and thrive in the case that some are lost along the way to feed the belly of some meat-eater. Each to his own.

When there is water and trees in plenty in a nice valley, we are happy. We like to build our homes in places like that. Way back when life was beginning, we were given long orange teeth that never stop growing, and with these we chew wood. We gnaw down the biggest trees we can, and drag them into the deepest part of the water where we start a pile. We bring in smaller pieces and weave them together until there is enough to catch mud from underneath. We dive down and shovel around with our claws and tails, make a good floor and an under-water entrance. There we bring our families to cuddle up and stay warm and out of the way of the animals who might want to eat us. They are good lodges, strong and well-built.

Because water is so important to us, we use other trees to dam it up so we always have pools around our lodges. The water just slows down and rises up at our spot, then finds its way out through the dam and continues like before. Other families, Beaver, and other kinds, live in the water that continues on. We have never stopped anybody else from using the water to make a living, and life continues, like the water, further along. There are many people, four-legged and winged that appreciate our work.

A while ago you two-legged people started thinking that you could use our pelts for hats. This was a good idea for a way to make a living in your world and you began trapping us in earnest. It took a lot of work for us Beavers to keep up our numbers, but we are known for our hard work and large litters. We just kept chewing wood, dragging and piling and patting mud, having babies, living our ways, even though we lost so many in your snares. I am happy to say those hats are no longer of any value to you, and you have lost interest in us as fur and food. But now we have noticed that you have been stealing the water and trees, and enough is enough.

You say we are destroying your property, cutting down the fancy exotic trees you planted, making the water go where you don’t want it. You want to get rid of the “Beaver problem” by just killing us off. You call us a Problem! Look at all the trees you cut! And you have pretty much eliminated all the wetlands so that the other people have had to move away or die trying. I say you are the problem, and there are many others who agree with me. The Bears tried to tell you about how they had lost their trees and rivers, but you would not listen. You just shot them!

You are making lodges that stand empty, and your pups are sick from neglect and poison. There is a sickness in your kind, and I think you need to look to your own life to see how to build your own ponds that will sustain you. Don’t blame us. We are just being Beavers.

Bucky Beaver, Keeper of the Stick Lodge