Bronx River Beavers?
Bronx River beaver 'alive and well'
By Bob Kappstatter
DAILY NEWS BRONX BUREAU CHIEF
Wednesday, May 7th 2008, 1:59 AM
Julie Larsen Maher
Jose, the Bronx River beaver.
Alvarez/News
Since last August, only the costumed Jose has been seen.
He's alive!
Fresh signs of Jose the Bronx River beaver have just been sighted, relieved river cleanup officials reported Tuesday.
Jose fans had feared the bucktoothed furry symbol of the restoration of the once badly polluted river was dead.
On April 18, harbor police on patrol near the United Nations during the Pope's visit pulled a dying male beaver from the East River.
The 40-pound, 4-foot-long animal was spotted floating in the water tilted at an unnatural angle and showing signs of labored breathing. It died a short time later.
Because no fresh gnaw marks on tree limbs for Jose's Bronx River beaver lodge inside the New York Botanical Garden had been spotted since that time, river supporters feared the worst.
But yesterday, Linda Cox, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance, the group spearheading the river cleanup, reported good news.
The alliance's education director, Damian Griffin, was out with a class of schoolkids on Tuesday when he spotted fresh Jose tooth marks on a tree inside the Bronx Zoo.
"We're quite sure now that Jose is alive and well," said Cox.
"It's great news that Jose the beaver is still alive and well, and living in the Bronx River," said the beaver's namesake, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-South Bronx), who has pumped close to $30 million in federal funding to help restore the river and clean up the Bronx waterfront.
"We would have missed our most famous river resident. He's a powerful symbol of the rebirth of the river and the borough," Serrano added.
"We're going to keep doing everything we can to keep him here - and maybe see if we can't persuade him to start a family."
Jose - folks are still not sure if he might be a she - has been a rather elusive mascot, with very few live sightings.
Beavers are generally nocturnal animals, but last August a photographer managed to snap off a few frames of Jose in daylight, paddling along the river inside the grounds of the Bronx Zoo where he initially built a lodge.
That lodge was later destroyed by flooding from heavy rains and Jose moved upriver to rebuild a new home inside the Botanical Garden.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/..._and_well.html
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