Someone has been chewing. And it isn't Elroy...

Ahhhhh.  Life in the country.  Or should I say, life in the wild kingdom.

So we know that we sometimes get field mice who decide to visit our abode in the fall.  So far we have not had much action in that area.  Thankfully - as it drives my human crazy.  And then of course, I had that run-in with the porcupine once.  Which put an end to any off leash late night pee breaks.  And then there was the killer duck this summer.  That was entertaining.  And along with the squirrels and chipmunks we have our resident moles - who have made our back lawn into a construction zone.  And if we didn't have enough chewing by Jaws - now known as the FG, we have a NEW chewer in town.

In the past week or two, we noticed when we went down to the lake, that there were lots of wood chips around.  The first time my human noticed them, she saw Elroy chewing on one - and she panicked - as she thought he was eating a mushroom.  She pried it out of his mouth and realized it was wood.  Hmmmmm.  And then she spotted something odd.  Two trees.  That had been chewed down.  And all that was left were stumps.  What could THAT be?!

Well we have also noticed small trees floating in the water near the shore.  That could only mean one thing.  Beavers. The beaver - which is a symbol of Canada, was a popular commodity for the early explorers.  Those beaver pelts which were made into fur hats, were very profitable.  By the mid-19th century, all those fashionable hats nearly resulted in the demise of the flat-tailed rodent.  But with conservation efforts, and a change in fashion, the beaver is far from endangered.   And we obviously have at least one in the neighborhood.

If you go to the webpage for the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources you can find a page labelled "Nuisance Beavers".  According to that site, beavers become active in the early fall, storing branches in underwater food piles near their "lodges" for use in the winter.  While beavers can create ponds as they build their dams,  they can also take down a lot of trees.  And they CAN make a mess.  We don't really NEED a pond.  We have a lake.  And while beavers may LOOK kinda cute - they can be very nasty if provoked.  There have actually been incidents where dogs have been KILLED by beavers!  So now my human doesn't want any of us off leash when we go down to the lake.  Great.  Time to call in the trappers.  Hopefully they take care of moles too!

Ahhhh.  Life in the country.... I think Elroy has actually met his match in the chewing department!

Have a good one!