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Trappers museum welcomes rare 'pet' albino beaver

RENNIE -- For some people, it will make no difference. The albino beaver is dead. The people responsible are killers of a sort.

The story dates back four or five years ago. John Bartley would cut maple tree boughs behind his Rennie home to feed the amazing family of four albino beavers living in a drainage channel off Highway 307.

"I'd take two or three maple sticks and call them and they would eat them. They love maple. They eat all the bark off them," he said.

He went almost every night. The white beavers became like pets. He asked fellow trapper, John Rodgers, on whose registered trap line the beavers lived, to hold off trapping there. Rodgers, who is also a conservation officer based in Hadashville, readily agreed.

After all, the odds of an albino beaver are said to be up to one in 400,000. The odds of four kits being albino is beyond human comprehension. "It's always just one," said Rodgers.

This went on for about two years. The beavers weren't causing any problems. Eventually, the beavers grew up and dispersed. Some people believe two were killed for trophies by out-of-country hunters who had a deer stand in the area. However, albino beavers are also easier prey for natural predators because they lack the typical camouflage.

Then Bartley found one of them. Bartley, 77, is an institution in these parts, 130 kilometres east of Winnipeg. He's been a trapper for 50 years and has repaired cottager boats and motors for just as long.

He trapped 1,300 beavers one year for CN Rail to keep tracks from being flooded. But if he sees a splash in the water while driving, he still stops the truck, gets out and sits for long periods marvelling at nature's creatures.

That's how he spotted the four white kits. He initially saw some white on the back of a brown beaver and couldn't figure it out. He went down to the water and saw the albino kits climbing on their mother's back.

The mother was brown and the father was black. "They would run up her back and jump off into the water, curl around and get back on again. She was teaching them how to swim."

Bartley found the lone grownup albino beaver the same way. He spotted a splash in a ditch along Highway 44. He pulled the truck over, walked down to the water, and began imitating a beaver call. It sounds a bit like a pleading kitten. "And this white beaver swam out of the culvert," he said.

This time, the beaver threatened to flood Highway 44. Most people don't realize they would never be able to reach their cottage if there wasn't a beaver-removal program. Bartley traps beavers in the summer for Manitoba Highways. They wanted him to remove the white beaver but he couldn't do it. "I couldn't trap it because it was a pet to me," he said, although he understands it had to be removed. That was last summer.

Camo Store Grass Cut Kit in Mossy Oak Duck Blind Pattern | Camo ...

Camo Store offers the all-new Grass Cut Kit.  Now if you’re a camouflage junkie, this is the product for you.

First, we start with the grassy camo.  Mossy Oak uses their Duck Blind pattern.  This is a great pattern for the Mossy Oak camo lover.  Bushwolf also makes a pattern using their Grassland pattern.  Both are HD and look great.  Now, how do we make the Grass Cut Kit?

First we start with the basic Rocker Panel Kit.  And from hours of tracing out the grass pattern, our machines computer cut the blades from the top edge.  We then apply a transfer tape over the entire graphic.  This keeps the blades in place and allows easy installation.  Once applied, just carefully peel back the transfer tape and voila!  The rocker panels of your truck look just like it’s driving through the grass.  It’s quite the head turner.

Camo Store offers the Grass Cut Kit in different sizes to fit your truck perfectly.

Feel free to comment with any questions and I’ll be sure to answer promptly.

New York game & fish

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