D'EPARTM.ENT 

 OF AGRICULTURE 



OFJP.ICB OH^. 



i'N FORMATIONS Y 



.7ITH UNCL3 SAIu'S NATUHAIISTS 



RELEASE Friday, January 29, 1932 



01 



FOE BROADCAST USE OiJLY 



Ai^lNOUNCEIIE^IT 



that most 

 Naturalists 

 with beavers 



And now our TZildsman is goin^ to tell us a few things about 

 interesting and unique animal, the beaver* It seems that Uncle San' 

 of the United States Departp.ent of Agriculture are experimenting 



but our Tildsnan '^ill tell you aboiit those experiments •■ 



« * >k >lc>»: * « 



Maybe you heard that Mr. Vernon Bailey recently planted a few beavers 

 near the Pisgali National Forest, in North Carolina* 



Mr. Bailey is a field naturalist of the U. S. 

 Biological Survey and an authority on the habits of beavers, and many ot/ier 

 wild animals. Only he might object to niy calling them "wild animals" because 

 he insists that mpny of them, and especially beavers, are very friendly when 

 you come to Icno-' them personally, as it were. 



Incidento.lly he soys a lot has been written about beavers, but un- 

 fortunately iirach of it by men with little first hand acquaintance with these 

 famous dam builders themselves. In that waj% much misinformation has been 

 spread around about them^ but more about that later. 



First, let me t^ll you about this little experimental colonj'- of beavers, 

 Mr. Bailey just helped plant in the North Carolina mountains. 



Beavers usod to live in those forests. In fact, they originally in- 

 habited the greater part of North America, and at one time thoy produced fur 

 of greater value than that of any other fur-bearing rjiimal of the continent. 

 Indians used them for food and warm clothing. You remember from your history, 

 beaver skin was used as a unit of barter with the Indians. The fur soon at- 

 tracted white traders and trappers, and the tra^fiic in beaver skins beca-me an 

 important couxiorcial factor in promoting the er.rly settlement of the country. 

 But that was "once on a. time" as they say in the story books. Generations of 

 intensive trr.pping completely extcrmina,ted beavers over much of their former 

 range, many, mar-y years a^o. 



For a number of years now, however, bea.vers have been given protection 

 in raajiy sections of the countrj'. After long absence, they have been restored 

 to some parts of their old rajige. 



For exainple, it ha,d been more thaxx a hundred years since the last bea,ver 

 ha.d been trapped in Pennsylvania, when about ten yea.rs ago a dozen bea.vers were 

 broxLght down from Crna.da to restock part of the old range in that Sta.tc. Under 



