Beavers bring down town’s internet after chewing through cables

Bright orange tape used for underground wiring strewn atop nearby dam the giveaway for engineers locating source of disruption

Beavers spend much of their time building and maintaining their homes (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Hundreds of people living in a remote Canadian town lost internet last week after beavers caused “extensive damage” when they chewed through underground cables.

Engineers discovered the cause of the disruption after spotting bright orange tape used to secure wiring scattered on top of the beavers’ nearby dam.

They found the rodents had dug around a metre down to where the 12cm-thick tube and cable was laid, and chewed through it in several places, severing internet and TV connections for nearly a thousand customers – half of Tumbler Ridge’s population.

Repair work was made more challenging since the ground around the northeastern British Columbia town was partially frozen.

Liz Sauvé, a spokeswoman for the internet provider, Telus, called the incident – which was reported at around 4am last Saturday – a “uniquely Canadian turn of events”.

She said in a statement: “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.

“The beavers first chewed through the conduit before chewing through the cable in multiple locations.”

Telus said internet and TV access was restored on Sunday afternoon but that mobile phone service would remain patchy until the cable was fully repaired.