Okay…It’s a campy story…but who can resist a headline about a Trooper Chasing Beaver???
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The Seattle Times: Local News: Determined Oregon trooper chases wandering beaver
Determined Oregon trooper chases wandering beaver
By The Associated Press
PORT ORFORD, Ore. – When Oregon State Police Trooper Robert Gorman approached a wandering beaver that appeared to be lost, he knew it was going to be one of those situations the police academy does not train to handle.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever had to chase down a beaver,” Gorman said.
The beaver was out of place, on a dock raised high above the bay at Port Orford. Probably, it had left nearby Hubbard Creek in search of a mate.
Gorman called state wildlife biologist Clayton Barber, who advised the officer to catch the beaver.
Not so easy. It took one commercial fisherman, a noose, a driftboat, one surfer, a pickup, two dogs, a salmon net and a borrowed dog kennel. And three hours.
Commercial fisherman Dave Rickel was the first to lend a hand after he saw Gorman trying to corral the beaver. He borrowed a dog noose and portable kennel from his wife.
But the beaver “started getting paranoid and jumped off the dock 20 feet to the water,” Gorman said.
The tide washed the rodent 500 yards out.
“I thought, I need to see this through to make sure he has a safe return,” Gorman said. “After all, I was the reason he was in the water in the first place.”
“We watched it, hoping it would be OK,” Gorman he said. “After it was out there an hour, I thought the thing was going to get tired and drown.”
Rickel ran home for his driftboat. He and Gorman headed out to the beaver, hoping to catch it in a salmon net.
But every time they got close, the beaver dove.
They tried to herd the beaver to shore, but eight-foot swells threatened to swamp the small boat.
“There was a surfer out there,” Gorman said. “I said, See that beaver? Try to chase him to shore.”
The surfer steered it to a nearby beach, where two unleashed dogs began harassing the tired beaver.
Gorman and Rickel motored back to port. Gorman drove his pickup to the beach, and ordered the dog owners to leave with their pets.
When the beaver spied Gorman, it started waddling back to the sea.
But Gorman plopped the salmon net over the beaver, and he and Rickel got it into a kennel and hoisted into the pickup.
“That beaver was sitting in the front of the cage with his two front paws holding the cage like a prisoner wanting to get out of jail,” Gorman said.
They took the beaver to a 10-acre Nature Conservancy wetland, whose population of rare lady-slipper orchids plummeted when beavers left and brush invaded. Barber hopes a few beaver will help restore orchid habitat.
So far, however, the lonely wandering beaver of Hubbard Creek lacks a bucktoothed companion to share his lady-slipper orchid patch.
“He’s stuck in the same situation as before,” Barber said. “Maybe we can help him by throwing a female in there.”
