Who would have thought that a single, solitary rodent in New York City would cause such a stir.

But that’s what happened last week, with the discovery of the Big Apple’s first beaver in almost two centuries.

When wildlife biologists videotaped a beaver Wednesday swimming in the Bronx River, it was the first confirmed beaver there since they were eradicated in the eary 1800s, the Associated Press reported.

To date, the only beaver associated with NYC is the beaver on the city seal. That was before this 3-year-old male paddled around all the mob-tossed carcasses swimming with the fishes in one of the nation’s most polluted streams.

Other than the fact that 44 million NYC rats are jealous of the fame afforded their buck-toothed cousin, this story merits some dissection for other several reasons:

1. It’s weird.

2. Atlantic City casinos have already set the over-under betting line at 2 1/2 … for the number of eyes its offspring will have.

3. It’s proof-positive that people who live in America’s wildest concrete jungle have a difficult time grasping what we take for granted here in wildlife-rich Southern Oregon.

4. It’s really freakin’ weird.

5. Hopefully, NYC won’t look to the City of Medford for tips on dealing with their city beaver.

Remember Medford’s Beaver?

In early 2002, a beaver moved into Bear Creek in downtown Medford, and summarily started munching through $4,000 worth of non-native aspen freshly planted by the Medford Urban Renewal Agency near the old Jackson Street Dam site.

MURA’s Director at the time called the beaver “a vandal” and suggested that it use drowned shopping carts, not expensive trees, to build its dam.

City parks workers got the beaver trapped and released near Lost Creek Lake.

Our beaver, evicted for being, well, a beaver.

So, New Yorkers, learn from our city’s missteps and revel in your rodent. Give him some love on Letterman. Maybe throw a Bronx Beaver Day Festival on the Waterfront, with the top raffle prize a pair of cement galoshes.

Just don’t take Medford’s lead and turn the Welcome Wagon into a Paddy Wagon.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Outdoor Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.