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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Let other Girl Scouts (search) make bird feeders out of Clorox bottles and glue together little birch-bark canoes -- Troop 34 in Alaska is learning to trap and skin beavers.In a practice that has angered animal rights activists, the girls are killing the beavers as part of a state flood-management program.
"We think it sends a very, very bad message that when animals cause a problem you kill them," said Stephanie Boyles of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (search). She said the Girl Scouts should want girls to become "stewards of wildlife, not abusers."
Last spring, about 10 members of the Fairbanks troop and their families helped catch two beavers using snare and lethal traps. The girls were taught how to find the animals' dens and how to lay the traps. Working under close supervision, the girls used knives to skin the beavers.
The troop had the pelts tanned and plans to make hats and mittens once a dozen hides are collected. The girls also want to cook beaver meat.
They plan to begin setting traps out again this month.
Alaska Girl Scout leaders said they know of no other troop in the country to take part in such a program.
Officials at the Girl Scouts' New York headquarters did not return repeated calls. But in a Sept. 16 letter to PETA, spokeswoman Courtney Shore said the organization does not promote trapping or hunting and does not offer merit badges for those activities.
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