Save the Lincoln Park beaver!

The Fox News story that goes along with the video claims that although the price tag to remove a single beaver is $4,000, the tree destruction inflicted by Lincoln Park's beaver visitors is far more costly.

Well, now the beaver is back, and he comes with quite the following on YouTube, Wikipedia, and the blogosphere. Lincoln Park, you love your beaver!

The Lincoln Park beaver gets a shout out on the Wikipedia pages for both the Lincoln Park neighborhood and beavers in general. Although the Park District plans to remove the beaver once again, the Wikipedia articles argue that it may be a waste of time--beavers have made North Pond their home in 1994, 2003, 2004, 2008, and again last fall.

The beaver even has a Facebook page and an outdated and not frequently updated blog that rallies for his support. "Save the Lincoln Park beaver" would make a great t-shirt, but those who believe in the cause are hardly joking.

Our beaver even gets mentioned in this California beaver fan blog that's totally and completely serious about celebrating and supporting beaver welfare.

Chicago indie-rock band Bully In The Hallway even made a YouTube public service announcement declaring their loyalty to keeping the beaver in North Pond...

So I'd say the beloved beaver's got himself (or herself) a pretty strong backing in the community.

Unfortunately, according to a 2008 article on Top Story Chicago, all the support in the world might not be enough for the Lincoln Park beaver. North Pond has been under the care of the Lincoln Park Conservancy since 1994, and it is an important attraction for wildlife--particularly birds.

The birds have become the main attraction of the pond, and the birds need trees in order to survive. That means that if Lincoln Park wants to keep North Pond for it's already well-known birdwatching purposes, then the tree-chewin' beaver's gotta go.

What do you think, Lincoln Park? Is it worth spending another $4,000 dollars to relocate yet another beaver when they keep coming back? If we let the beaver stay, how do we keep him from gnawing on all the North Pond trees, which would destroy the homes of lots of beautiful birds?

Can the birds and the beavers and the Lincoln Park community peacefully co-exist?

And WHO KNEW that beavers were so "dam" cute?

Om-nom-nom-nom! Beavers beat trees in the cuteness competition hands down, any day. Photo by flikr user law_keven.