The beavers are back: animals return to Stockholm after almost a century

The beavers are back: animals return to Stockholm after almost a century

Athlyn Cathcart-Keays
@athlynck
Friday 22 April 2016 08.25 EDT

This week’s best city stories takes us from barbershops in Philadelphia where a programme is bridging the gap between black men and the polling booths, to the grimy streets of Paris, where residents are fed up of being treated like the underdogs and are suing the state. Share your thoughts about these city stories – and any others you’ve seen – in the comments below.

Take a walk on the wild side

As cities expand and encroach on the surrounding countryside, animals are forced to adapt to this rampant urbanisation, while urban dwellers must also learn how to life – and sometimes brush shoulders with their wild neighbours.

After disappearing completely from Stockholm less than a century ago due to hunting, the Eurasian beaver has returned to the city thanks to a repopulation drive that took place in central Sweden in the 1920s. Today, the rodent has finally made its way back to the bustling capital, enamouring local residents with their goofy teeth, while wreaking havoc for park wardens who are concerned that their constant gnawing on urban trees could pose a safety risk in a city with so much green space.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly feels right at home next to the roaring jet engines of Boeing-777s at LAX, while up in the Hollywood Hills, mountain lions roam around tourists without being spotted. Read National Geographic’s Wild Cities features this week.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/22/beavers-back-animals-return-stockholm

(This is the end of the section regarding beavers in the article.)

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Beaver bites bus passenger in Sweden

Published: 31 Mar 2015 11:03 GMT+02:00

A man who was bitten by a beaver at a bus stop in Tyresö, south of Stockholm, has been describing the snappy attack.

Pentti Savola, 58, was among a group of early morning commuters waiting to get a bus to work when the animal came up to him and bit his leg last week.

"It was lightning fast. I never thought that an animal that looks so clumsy could be so crafty," he told Swedish news site mitti.se.

He said that he may have stressed the animal out when he tried to take a photo of it with his mobile.

But after his own stressful experience, he said he wanted to tell his story to warn children that they should not pet beavers without knowing more about the animals.

More:
http://www.thelocal.se/20150331/beaver-bites-swedish-bus-passenger

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