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Colorado woman embraces beavers, champions nature's engineers
The Denver Post ^
| 09/05/2007
| Jason Blevins
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 ...
TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS:
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Sherri Tippie plants a smooch on the head of a female beaver before releasing her into a new home. Tippie is Colorado's only licensed beaver relocator and is a tireless advocate of the species' benefits to river and stream ecosystems. (Post / Helen H. Richardson)
To: Daffynition
Good Morning, Daff.
2
posted on
09/09/2007 6:34:23 AM PDT
by
LantzALot
(Yes, it’s my opinion. No, it’s not humble.)
To: Daffynition
“embraces beavers”,.....
OK Freepers, have at it,.....
3
posted on
09/09/2007 6:34:36 AM PDT
by
garyhope
(Ars longa, vita brevis. Too brevis.)
To: garyhope
I thought, and thought, and thought about it. But Daff’s a good friend, and what I finally thought was that someone else should be the one.
4
posted on
09/09/2007 6:40:34 AM PDT
by
LantzALot
(Yes, it’s my opinion. No, it’s not humble.)
To: Daffynition; Slings and Arrows
"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."
I don't know how how to reply to this.
5
posted on
09/09/2007 6:41:01 AM PDT
by
grjr21
To: garyhope
6
posted on
09/09/2007 6:41:21 AM PDT
by
csvset
To: LantzALot
7
posted on
09/09/2007 6:46:46 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
(The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.)
To: garyhope; LantzALot; grjr21; csvset
Almost too early to laugh so hard! ;-D
8
posted on
09/09/2007 6:49:03 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
(The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.)
To: Daffynition
Yikes, she is kissing the head of that wild animal! Don’t beavers bite?
9
posted on
09/09/2007 6:55:07 AM PDT
by
Ditter
To: Daffynition
Hope things are going well at your end of the country.
10
posted on
09/09/2007 6:55:13 AM PDT
by
LantzALot
(Yes, it’s my opinion. No, it’s not humble.)
To: Daffynition
So you took the initiative!
11
posted on
09/09/2007 6:56:12 AM PDT
by
LantzALot
(Yes, it’s my opinion. No, it’s not humble.)
To: Daffynition
12
posted on
09/09/2007 6:57:20 AM PDT
by
DCPatriot
("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
To: Daffynition
13
posted on
09/09/2007 6:58:02 AM PDT
by
Fintan
(Tagline on vacation.)
To: Ditter; DCPatriot
She gives them beaver candy, I'm sure of it.
14
posted on
09/09/2007 7:00:38 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
(The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.)
To: LantzALot
Most wonderful here! Thanks!
15
posted on
09/09/2007 7:03:21 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
(The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.)
To: Daffynition
Thought this was a porn thread.
16
posted on
09/09/2007 7:03:27 AM PDT
by
Eagle Eye
(If you agree with Democrats you agree with America's enemies.)
To: Daffynition
Beaver relocator?
Isn’t it where it’s supposed to be?
17
posted on
09/09/2007 7:06:47 AM PDT
by
Loyalist
(Social justice isn't; social studies aren't; social work doesn't.)
To: Fintan
Dam you! See you in court!
18
posted on
09/09/2007 7:08:45 AM PDT
by
Daffynition
(The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.)
To: Daffynition
Somehow, I knew that innocent-looking article was there just to draw us in to your real zingers.
I'd love to stay, but it's time to go plug back in. I'll be back later.
19
posted on
09/09/2007 7:08:53 AM PDT
by
LantzALot
(Yes, it’s my opinion. No, it’s not humble.)
To: Daffynition
Well I’ll admit that the beaver is one of nature’s engineering marvels.
20
posted on
09/09/2007 7:09:46 AM PDT
by
csvset
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