FTLComm - Tisdale - May 22, 2000

Canada's national animal emblem has always been both a matter of amusement and admiration. Chief Dan George compared white men to beavers because of their propencity to mess things up. It must have been the protestant work ethic at work when Canada's parliamentarians decided to go with the Beaver as our national animal because these characters are truly hard working and industrious. These pictures taken only a couple miles South East of Tisdale illustrate the size of tree that a beaver will take down and then buck into sections to create the material he needs to build a damn. Beavers do not require either building permits or environmental impact studies to go ahead with their work and as a result often have to deal with destructive sanctions taken against their projects. It is interesting to notice that they have left some unused material behind in the little clearing they have created below. With our size and having arms and bipedial abilities we would have to exert a lot of effort to move those logs laying down there, yet the humpbacked fifty pound rodent can chew down and move really big trees.