Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1918 — Beaver on the Increase in Wisconsin, but Extinction Feared Within Few Years [ARTICLE]

Beaver on the Increase in Wisconsin, but Extinction Feared Within Few Years

Although beaver are apparently! doomed to extinction, Wisconsin gamewardens report an increase in the LakeSuperior country, in spite of the worlci of poachers. A year or so ago state conservation' wardens received orders to trap that beaver from the big Blbon swamp, which covers the bottom lands fort miles between Mason and Grand View._ Some farmers, complained that thedams built by beavers turned theswamp upon their lands, and the wardens were finally ordered to trap theaniinals in ordinary steel traps, wound with doth, in the hope of catching them alive without the infliction of, serious injury, they to be taken alive and transported to a state game preserve. A few beaver were removed in thlsway, but there are still quite a number of beaver in the Bibon swamp. In three Wisconsin counties, including Sawyer and Rush, the season wasopen during December, but it is not reported that beaver in any large numbers were caught, for it was illegal toset traps within 500 feet of beaverhouses, and trappers who confined their operation strfctly within legal limits, did not report much success. The poachers, however, levy constant tribute on the beaver, still remaining in the country, and in spite of increases reported during the past year, •will cause extinction within a few years.