FRIEND OF THE BEAVER

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 7

FRIEND OF THE BEAVER

APACHE INDIAN’S FAME

OLD-TIME THEORIES DISPROVED

Grey Owl, an Apache Indian, grew up on the United States prairie, bivouacked with Buffalo Bill, won fame as a trapper and hunter. But he got no pleasure from killing the beaver. No Indian does. The Red Man has a peculiar reverence for the little anima] that shows such uncanny wisdom in organising its life (says the Vancouver correspondent of the New Zealand Herald). But beaver pelts were the prize of trappers; Grey Owl killed many for profit.

One day Grey Owl made a vow never again to kill the beaver, but to devote the rest of his life to the protection of the little workers of the waterways. He migrated to the wilds of Quebec, selected a river on 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 the damage caused by floods. He eliminated their natural foes. He guarded their young. He was confident the intelligence of Canada's symbolic animal would identify him as a friend.

The hopes of the beavers’ friend were realised. Gradually the beaver came to

know and 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 he fed from the bottle. When he went abroad in his canoe, they followed him. He taught them to climb in and out of the canoe without upsetting it, and when Grey Owl went in for a swim, the event was a sports day for the beaver colony.

Grey Owl's fame spread through Quebec until it reached Ottawa. The Federal Government had just decided to establish a beaver sanctuary in Riding Mountain national park, Manitoba. The Minister of the Interior asked Grey Owl to take charge of it. He agreed. He moved westward, taking his best friends, two old beavers, 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 50 years since he bivouacked with Buffalo Bill. But, if lie lives 10 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. lie sold Laurier the herd that made the foundation of the thousands that now roam the plains of Alberta. So it will lie due to an Indian that the first movement to conserve the beaver has begun.