Last fall, trappers took every beaver from the Coon Road Swamp in Otisfield, not only leaving no beavers to reproduce for future trapping, but also leaving no beavers to maintain the dam. This summer that dam failed and the swamp drained.

I trap fishing bait in the Coon Road Swamp. I have to check my trap every day because of the low level of oxygen in the swamp water. Otherwise the fish will suffocate.

Since the draining of the Coon Road Swamp I haven’t caught so much as a pollywog in my trap. The draining of the swamp appears to have reduced oxygen so much that all the fish and bullfrog pollywogs have died.

What kind of idiot would do something so stupid? Self-defeating, greedy trappers, that’s who.

Henry Hamilton, Otisfield