SAVING THE BEAVER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1931, Page 13

SAVING THE BEAVER

ACTION IN CANADA

(From "The Post's" Representative.) VANCOUVER, 10th August. Grey Owl, an Apache Indian, grew up_ on the United States Prairie, bivouacked with Buffalo Bill, and won fame as a trapper and hunter. But he got no pleasure from killing the beaver. No Indian does. The lied Man has a peculiar reverence for the little animal that shows such uncanny wisdom in organising its life. But beaver pelts were the prize of trappers; Grey Owl killed many for profit. One day he made a vow never again to kill the beaver, but to devote the rest of his life to the protection of tin: little workers of the waterways. He migrated to the wilds of Quebec, selected a riveton which there were a few beaver colonies, and set to work. Other Indians and white trappers laughed at him. Who could tame the beaver? One was lucky to catch them in" traps, to kill them by blasting their dams in winter, to see them close enough for a long-range shot. The beaver was the natural prey of man. Grey Owl was already disturbing these old-time theories. He helped the beaver colonies with their dam-building. His axe was quicker than their teeth. He brought them food, plugged their dams. He prevented much of tho damage caused by floods. He eliminated their natural foes. He guarded their young. Ho was confident that the intelligence of Canada's symbolic animal would identify him as a friend. A GOVERNMENT CHARGE. His hopes were realised. Gradually the beaver came to' know anil trust him. They gave him their confidence, their friendship. They would leave the water and follow him to his cabin. They ate from his hand; the babies lie fed from the bottle. When he went abroad in his canoe they folioiverl him. Ho (aught them to climb in and out of Llic crmoc without upsetting it. And when Grey Owl went in for a swim the event was a sports day for the beaver colony. His fame spread through Quebci: lill it reached Ottawa. The Federal Government had just decided to establish a beaver sanctuary in Biding Mountain national park, Manitoba. v The Minister of the Interior asked Grey Owl to take charge of it. Ho agreed. He moved westward, taking his best friends, Iwo old beaver, with him. They stood the 2000----mile journey well. A century of ruthless hunting has reduced the beaver population almost to vanishing point. Not one Canadian in a thousand has ever seen a beaver. Grey Owl is an old man. It is fifty years since lie bivouacked with Buffalo Bill. But, if he lives ten years more, beaver will be fairly common in all the national parks of Canada, and they will know that man is their friend, not; their traditional enemy. It was due to an Indian that the buffalo were saved in Canada after they became extinct in the United States. He sold Laurier the herd that made; the foundation of the thousands that _ now roam the plains of Alberta. So it will br> due to an Indian tint the first movement to conserve the bcavev has brgim.