Beavers paralyze the Internet in Canada

Voracious rodents
Beavers paralyze the internet connection in a Canadian town

By Solvejg Hoffmann

April 27, 2021 10:20 am

Canadians love their national animal: the beaver is decorated with the Canadian five-cent coin, and it is a very gentle rodent that is also famous for its construction skills.

But in the small town of Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia, a beaver-building craze has recently been creating problems. The cute animals gnawed the Internet and phone calls in town.

As of 4 am Saturday, about 900 Tumbler Ridge residents have been cut off from local provider Telus’ communications network. Technicians frantically searched for the source of the error for hours.

Beavers gnawed at cables while building the dam

Then the puzzle was solved: technicians found bits of a damaged fiber-optic cable in various beaver caves on the nearby river. The animals made their way along the river to the tube, which was buried one meter deep, and chewed it in several places.

Obviously, the channel, about 12 cm thick, which was supposed to protect the cable from external influences, was not a problem for the sharp teeth of rodents. After beavers gnawed at this, they also cut the fiber optic cable.

Telus technicians took 36 hours to repair the damage – also because the frozen ground made the work difficult in many places. It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon in Tumbler Ridge that the phone and internet were working properly. The Canadians took the matter with humor: Telus spokeswoman Liz Suffe described the turmoil BBC interview As an unusual and unique incident such as that can only happen in Canada.