The company of a beaver….
This morning I had the pleasure of the company of a beaver for a while. The beaver was swimming in the river klarälven and I was on my way to the office on cycle. We had eye contact for a second and at once I felt a sort of contact with the wilderness in the middle of the city.
The beaver was extinct in Sweden in the 1800 century and protected in 1873 and reintroduced from Norway in the 1920’s. The reintroduction was prosperous and now days the beaver isn’t an endangered species in Sweden. It is not protected ince 1873 after 100 years of protection.The reason for the extinction was the hunting for the skin and castor. Most species endangered today is that because of change of their biotope, except for the wolf, of course. In my county there is a big debate about how many wolfs that can be allowed before the hunt can start again. There is also a discussion about if the wolfs were reintroduced by man or has spread from other countries. The last wolf in Sweden was thought to be shot in 1964 and after that the species were protected.
We humans are quite occupied about what is genuine and what is only a pale or faked copy in nature. I can recommend an interesting book “Faking Nature” The ethics of environmental restoration by Robert Elliot in the subject. Can wild species live together with humans in an urban environment? But of course they can, take the wasp for example. Although the beaver is an introduced species in Sweden, I felt like it was genuine this morning.