I guess we’ve fixed everything in this state, because the DFL has stuck a provision in our latest funding bill that prohibits beaver eating. It’s only under special circumstances, though: you can’t eat “nuisance beavers” that you killed to stop them from flooding your farm with their dams, but if you killed them because you trap them for their fur, yeah, go ahead, you can chow down on that fine furry beaver. Nuisance beavers can still be used for fur, castor oil, or taxidermy, just no eating allowed.
It’s a very peculiar law, because nobody can explain why this rule has been inserted. The Republicans are rightly peeved at this goofy and unnecessary regulation, and the DFL is being evasive and not explaining the purpose.
…a Senate DFL spokesperson issued a statement saying the conference committee dealt with “multiple provisions related to beavers coming from both chambers. This language emerged from many conversations between the House, Senate, DNR, and governor’s office.’’
It sounds like there was a lot of concern about beavers, and I wonder if maybe there might have been more significant issues to address. Apparently not; Minnesota has achieved policy perfection.
Why beavers? I have two hypotheses. One is that it was to give Minnesota Republicans something to do — it’s a distraction. They’re busy right now bragging about how they’ve all eaten beaver.
“I eat beaver. It’s fine,’’ Wesenberg said. “No one is going to get in trouble for doing it. I don’t know why it’s in the bill.’’
OK, dude, I’m happy for you.
My other hypothesis is that this is a cunning anti-Catholic ploy. The Catholic Church decided beaver was a fish and therefore you were allowed to eat all the beaver you want during Lent. This law will deny good Catholic farmers a traditional dish, apparently on a whim.
Don’t say I never criticize Democrats. This is a useless law that accomplishes nothing (they even say it won’t be policed or enforced) and justifies complaints that they’re going to pad the legal system with stupid regulations.
Doesn’t Castor oil come from Castor beans rather than Castoreum which is from Beavers?
I hear Spaniards are fond of beaver lasagne.
Who’s beaver? Why Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver of course
What if your motivation for killing the beaver you’re eating is neither fur nor nuisance, but because you had a hankering for beaver? Is that allowed?
The dirty jokes write themselves with this event.
Another mammal that was (is?) decreed to be a fish is the capybarra.
And then there’s the Barnacle Goose…
Damn, laurian beat me to it.
“Primus: Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver”
https://youtu.be/aYDfwUJzYQg
Maybe it has something to do with Oregon joining the Big Ten. Is ther anything in Minnesota law about eating Huskies?
You asked for it:
Maybe it would be more ethical to eat capybara, on account you need to slaughter fewer for the same amount of meat. You know, like turkeys vs chicken.
Yeah castor oil comes from one of the most toxic plants on earth, so toxic the KGB spiked umbrellas with it.
I learned though that beaver butts aren’t a common source of vanilla flavoring:
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/where-does-vanilla-extract-come-from
I doubt there was any beaver remaining to be eaten. I’m surprised the bearded MAGAts all survived intact.
Anyway as horrible as Phil Robinson is as a person, this scene from Duck Dynasty still ranks up there for backwoods redneck methods for dealing with nuisance beaver dams (napalm, dynamite, and a flaming Rambo arrow):
How about road kill beaver? Asking for RFK Jr.
UnknownEric… @ # 5: The dirty jokes write themselves …
Most of the razor-happy younger generation probably won’t get them.
Can’t help but believe this is some kind of game because of the double entendre (eat beaver) which is most obvious.
Hundreds of Beavers
A 2022 movie featuring, well…
Available on tubitv.com and elsewhere
@11 — I know this wasn’t what you meant, but the thought of the KGB going around spiking people with umbrellas dipped in cooking oil made me laugh.
I will not eat beavers in Minnesota, I will not eat them while drinking Pepsi Cola. I will not eat them during the sermon, I will not eat anything resembling vermin.
@14 – The double entendre, paired with the rules about what goes into beavers, what and how whatever comes out of beavers, and the teaching of and observation of beavers makes this seem a tad intentional.
Just hope this doesn’t start problems with Canada who get a wee bit touchy about messing with their natural totem.
1) Remember that at the beginning of the last century ‘Beaver’ was shouted at bearded males.
2) C.S. ‘Jacksie’* Lewis made beavers piscivorus in his best known book.
* British slang for your bottom or anus.
They’re eating the gophers! They’re eating the beavers! They’re eating the rodents of the people of Springfield!
I live in Oregon, the so-called “beaver state.” I have no idea if there are any regulations regarding eating the critters. It’s somehow never come up.
Then again, in 60 years of living here, I’ve only seen two, and one was dead. This despite numerous camping trips and living near protected wetlands.
Eventually, we’ll probably have to call it the nutria state. We have plenty of those.
The official state animal of Oregon is the beaver.
Also the mascot of Oregon State University.
The beaver is also classified as an agricultural pest under Oregon state law. If they are causing problems, you can kill them on private land.
That is because they are nocturnal.
After centuries of almost being hunted to extinction, beavers, especially around humans, only come out at night.
They can also be crepuscular, meaning they are active at dawn and dusk.
The law itself is within the DNR section of the omnibus spending bill. It seems as if some of the language from other trapping and hunting license regulations, and the provisions for dealing with nuisance cases have been nonsensically combined into a single law.
I suspect that an AI is the author, which is why nobody knows where those words came from, or who inserted the prohibition against eating nuisance beavers without a trapping license.
Beavers spend most of their life in the water, so unless you spend a lot of time looking at a pond or lake it would be unlikely to see them. They leave a wake as they swim, but you only see a bit of their head above water.
You are far more likely to hear a beaver slap the water with its tail in alarm when it spots you and dives to safety .
I saw a (live) beaver here in New Jersey. It was in a state park in the pine barrens that hosts some old cranberry bogs. I was walking my dog on one of the trails alongside a feeder stream/pond. The beaver was swimming about happily for a few minutes, I was amazed watching it (here in NJ). Eventually it caught site of the dog and me, turned away smacked its tail and disappeared under the water.