CHELMSFORD – A wildlife rescue group and its supporters are protesting a decision by authorities to release “Nibi” the beaver back into the wild, potentially as soon as Tuesday.

For the past two years, Nibi has been at Newhouse Wildlife Rescue in Chelmsford. The organization found the orphaned beaver and took her in when she was very young.

Since then, she’s been a hit on social media.

“So many people have fallen in love with Nibi,” Jane Newhouse tells WBZ-TV.

MassWildlife says it’s time for Nibi the beaver to be released

But now MassWildlife says it’s time to Nibi to return to nature, saying in a statement that “wild animals like this one belong in the wild.”

“The role of licensed wildlife rehabilitators is to care for sick and injured wildlife so that animals can be released back into the wild as soon as possible,” MassWildlife said. “Newhouse Wildlife Rescue was informed in June that the beaver is healthy and must be returned to the wild, in accordance with their permit and state regulations.”

Newhouse worries that the decision will cost the beaver her life. She said Nibi wanted nothing to do with other orphaned beavers brought to the facility, and could not be conditioned to survive in the wild.

“We tried to make Nibi releasable,” Newhouse said. “The goal for any wildlife rehabilitator is to acclimate these animals to the wild.”

MassWildlife says this is an appropriate time to release a beaver into the wild, but Newhouse wants to at least wait until spring. She fears Nibi won’t be able to make a den and dam and store food for the winter.

“Heartbroken over all of it”

A request to make Nibi an educational beaver and let her stay at the rescue was denied, Newhouse said.

“I’m heartbroken over all of it, to be honest with you,” Newhouse said.

MassWildlife says the beaver will be released in a suitable habitat away from people.

Over two dozen “Mass Cash” tickets that were sold in Massachusetts on Friday matched all five numbers to win the grand prize in the daily drawing.

This is the third-highest amount of winning grand prize tickets ever sold in a single drawing for the game, according to the Massachusetts State Lottery.

There were a total of 26 tickets, or plays, that matched all five numbers. The winning numbers for the Sept. 27 drawing were 4, 7, 9, 24, 36 and Lucky Ball: 1.

The majority of the winning “Mass Cash” tickets were sold in Dorchester from Harborpoint Liquors, while the rest were sold in Allston from a Nouria Energy shop.

The highest amount of “Mass Cash” tickets to match all five numbers ever sold in a single drawing was 50 tickets on Dec. 6, 2020. The second-highest amount was 34 winning tickets, on Oct. 18, 1993.

But while players who match all five numbers in the game usually win $100,000 prizes, the 26 hits on Friday were worth $88,856 each.

This is because the total amount of prizes won in the drawing was higher than 1,000% of the drawing’s net sales, the Massachusetts State Lottery said. Therefore, the “prize amounts are determined by a formula,” the Lottery’s statement said.

There were also 63 tickets sold that matched four numbers to win $222, instead of the usual $250, and there were 2,944 winning $8 tickets instead of $10.

“Mass Cash” drawings are held every night at 9 p.m. and tickets, or plays for each drawing, cost $1 each. Players must choose five numbers between 1-35.

Which words are illegal to say in Massachusetts? The short answer is none.

Well, sort of. There is no list of banned words that you cannot say.

You can face charges if you let loose with a volley of offensive terms aimed at someone during the commission of a hate crime or if your words are determined to be hate speech.

To say or write an offensive word is protected free speech.

I read a lot of U.S. history. The “N-word,” perhaps the most offensive word in American English, appears periodically, most often attributed to someone as part of a quotation. In that context, the presentation of the word is not hate speech.

Directing the word at an individual or group of people could be problematic.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of the Trial Courts Law Library states, “A hate crime is a crime that is motivated by bigotry.”

The Commonwealth further explains, “Hate speech is defined by Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed., 2014) as: ‘Speech that carries no meaning other than the expression of hatred for some group, such as a particular race, esp. in circumstances in which the communication is likely to provoke violence.”

The Massachusetts Executive Office of the Trial Courts Law Library says, “There is no ‘hate speech’ exception to the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.” Nevertheless, the Commonwealth says, “The right to free speech is not absolute.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that certain types of speech are not protected by the Constitution, including “the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, the insulting or ‘fighting words,’ – those by which their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.”

However, NBC News reported in May 2021, “The U.S. Supreme Court won’t decide if use of the N-word amounts to illegal discrimination.”

Chapter 272, Section 36A of Massachusetts State Law states, “Whoever, having arrived at the age of sixteen years, directs any profane, obscene or impure language or slanderous statement at a participant or official in a sporting event, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars.”

Georgetown University’s Free Speech Project says the Massachusetts Legislature rejected proposed legislation in 2019 to “prohibit the word ‘bitch’ to ‘accost, annoy, degrade or demean the other person.” The Free Speech Project says legal experts found the proposal to be unconstitutional.

Are you confused yet?