Beaver Frolics in the Hudson Outside Former Trump Buildings
A beaver swam in the Hudson River on Monday morning around West 71st Street, a happy sight that would have been unthinkable just over a decade ago. Ralph Stone took the photos above and below just after 10 a.m. as he walked his dog. He said he’s never seen beavers before in the area.
The beaver is the official New York state mammal, because the animals were ubiquitous in the state when Europeans arrived, and the beaver trade was key to the local economy.
But as humans do, we trapped too many and cut down too many forests, and the beavers died off fast. For over 200 years, they disappeared from the area around the city.
Luckily, the waters around the city have gotten cleaner in recent years, inviting all sorts of wildlife back to the area, including whales. A few beavers have returned to the New York City area in the past decade. In 2007, a beaver was spotted in the Bronx River.
But where are your pals, beaver friend?
How fantastic is that?!!! Hudson rehab & beaver resurgence!
I hope he has a girlfriend!
Why do we think he’s a he?
Tell him to stay away from anyone named Astor.
damn–you stole my line!
Astor was a latecomer to the beaver trade. To get the real skinny, read Russel Shorto’s “The Island at the Center of the World.” It’s a fascinating history of the founding of New York in the Dutch period. Full of insight about the beaver trade and lot’s more.
Great book. A lot of it based on old government record books in Albany gradually
translated from handwritten Old Dutch, more from records of the Dutch trading company (don’t remember its actual name) in the Netherlands.
Stay away from Astor Place…
Hey Adrian, that’s pretty funny.
Love!
All the wildlife we welcome to our shores with such joy will disappear again if the Williams Pipeline is allowed to dredge up the harbor for fracked fuel we don’t even need.
the goats, the hawks, and now the beaver(s) – love these wildlife stories WR, nice!
đ
Avesome, welcome home!
My first time seeing a beaver was in Jacksonhole, WY. I never thought I would hear of one floating in the Hudson. I hope this trend keeps up.
I do hope that hope that beaver and friends are not scouting the Hudson with a plan to dam it up. Actually, the Hudson at this point is too brackish for beavers to settle down. My information has it that the beavers had been planning a return for a long time but that they refused to do so while the Trump building signs were still up in this area.
Actually, the only reason they’re coming back it to help Drain the Swamp. Long overdue. : )
Leve it to Beaver!
<3
Scout on a Mission
Big props to Pete Seeger and the Clearwater, whose activism to clean up the Hudson makes this possible.
I think that’s Beautiful , I love animalsđ.
Love this article! made my day! Welcome beaters to Hudson River!
I believe I saw a beaver in Highbridge Park on the Manhattan side this Memorial Day weekend.
Thanks, WSR, for a sliver of good environmental news. Hi, little guy!
I seen a few beavers many times in Central Park at the waterfalls around the ramble area the past few weeks.
Ward was too hard on the beaver.
wow a beaver
i guess you never saw one because you always were playing video games
they have been damming streams on staten island for years…nyc you know
I go biking along the Hudson River Greenway from time to time and I have also seen a beaver along 125th street! Iâm not sure if itâs the same beaver but it was just upstream of the Fairway market.