Beavers take down the internetA small Canadian town lost internet for 36 hours over the weekend after local beavers gnawed through fiber cables while hunting for materials to build their dam, the CBC reported.
The beavers had to chew through a 4.5-inch protective layer to reach the cables, local internet provider Telus told CBC.
Beavers in Tumbler Ridge, a town in northeastern British Columbia with a population of almost 2,000, chewed through the underground cables at multiple points, cutting internet service for 900 people and cable TV for 60 people, CBC reported. The outage started at 4.a.m on Saturday. Local cell phone service was also disrupted.
Local internet provider Telus sent crews to restore service and had reconnected residents by 3:30pm on Sunday.
"Our team located a nearby dam, and it appears the beavers dug underground alongside the creek to reach our cable, which is buried about three feet underground and protected by a 4.5-inch thick conduit," Telus spokesperson Liz Sauvé said in a statement shared with CBC.
"The beavers first chewed through the conduit before chewing through the cable in multiple locations," she said.
Crews brought in specialist equipment to help dig through partially frozen ground to expose the cables.
Images taken by Telus show that the beavers used cable marking tape to build their dam.
Sauvé said the outage was a "very bizarre and uniquely Canadian turn of events."
