dv said:

kii said:

party_pants said:

Well that’s all I’ve got. Maybe I am missing the real joke too, probably too modern a popular culture reference for the likes of me.

It’s based on true events. Beavers are returning to Loch Ness.
Maybe dv will explain this for us?

I mean that’s all there is to the joke. The reader is primed tp think the opening adjectival phrase of the last sentence is about the beavers. Then the subject of the sentence is revealed to be “locals”.

It’s a simple but classic format occasionally employed by Stephen Fry and Ronnie Barker. “As author, I was sent a special hardback copy of the novel. Leather-bound and exquisitely tooled, the delivery cyclist was keen enough to ask for my autograph but such things aren’t free these days.”

I was looking for a more nuanced meaning. Maybe something involving the Loch Ness monster. My focus was misplaced.