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Calkins: Midtown has a beaver problem. It’s not as funny as it sounds.

By , Daily Memphian Published: July 27, 2026 4:00 AM CT
Geoff Calkins
Daily Memphian

Geoff Calkins

Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.

Damien Klingberg pulled out of his driveway early one morning and saw the creature, sitting at the corner of Central Avenue and Barksdale Street, as if that’s exactly where he belonged.

“He was on top of the drain,” Klingberg said. “I said, ‘What in the world is that?’”

Klingberg pulled closer. That’s when he saw the big, flat tail.

“It’s a d--n beaver,” he said. “We have a beaver problem.”

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beavers urban wildlife midtown beaver Subscriber Only

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