Underwater New York

The Floating Woman by Megan Gilbert

Beavers are considered nuisances because of their dam-building and tree-cutting, which is particularly undesirable to landowners. They can be removed using live traps or lethal traps. Most lethal traps kill an animal with a mechanical blow. Although death comes quickly, it might not be instantaneous.  If the trap is not set properly, you may get a bad or nonlethal capture. It takes more skill, experience, and time to set a lethal trap. Again, if you are not an experienced trapper, we strongly recommend that you seek hands-on training—especially before using body-gripping traps.

–New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the NYS Integrated Pest Management Program.

They were spotted in the daytime, near a thatch of low-hanging trees. They were swimming, cooling off. It was the last day of July. The old woman who lived next to the low-hanging trees sat in a plastic chair in the shade, reading. She could hear the splashing, which was no news. The thwaps against the water’s surface were probably kids who had swum over from the public beach on the other side of the point, or one of those ladies who liked to swim across the lake for exercise. She turned a page then fanned herself; it was getting warm. She should go get her wide-brimmed hat.

Then she heard voices. A man’s and a woman’s. Thwap. The voices rose in pitch, the woman’s a bit of a shriek, the man’s growly and bellowing. “I’ll kill you!” Is that what she heard? She stood up, placing the book on the grass beside her chair. Thwap thwap yell. Man’s voice again, “I’ll fucking kill you,” this time softer, winded. She turned and went inside.

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Tags: Body, Megan Gilbert, Surveillance Systems