Posted on 09/09/2007 6:31:52 AM PDT by Daffynition
Wetmore - Bubba smells funky.
It's no wonder. The two caged beavers in the back seat of Sherri Tippie's aging red Isuzu Trooper - affectionately named Bubba - are awash in their own dank musk as ice bags drip down their backs.
"I love that smell. Don't you just love it? Nothing smells better to me," says Sherri Tippie, inhaling deeply. "I was born for beavers."
As Colorado's lone licensed live trapper and relocator of beavers, the opinionated part-time jail barber from Lakewood has become a legend among beaver lovers. For 22 years, she has battled stereotypes - and centuries of history - that paint beavers as water-hoarding pests worth more as soft hats than wild animals. Tippie has relocated several hundred, maybe even a thousand of the industrious, family-centric creatures.
She traps the engineering animals in metro Denver's urban streams and releases them in rural areas where their labor is appreciated for creating wetlands, raising water tables, restoring silty top soil and cleaning water.
"We need to change people's perceptions," Tippie says, slapping her leg in frustration. "Too many people today have a golf-course mentality. Water goes here. Flowers here. Grass here. Trees there. It goes against nature. We've spent too long working against nature."
And her beloved beavers, she says, support "nature's dance."
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
“Colorado’s only licensed beaver relocator”
nature lover ping.
She loves the smell of beaver. She was born for beavers. Not gonna go there. Wouldn't be prudent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.