--- title: "Mass Canadian Internet Outage Caused by Single Destructive Beaver" description: "A marauding beaver has plunged several small towns into an internet blackout in northern BC, Canada, after chewing through the base of an aspen tree." date: "2022-06-14" modified: "2022-06-14" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mass-internet-outage-beaver" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "beaver" - "internet cables" - "the digest" --- # Mass Canadian Internet Outage Caused by Single Destructive Beaver ![A marauding beaver has plunged several small towns into an internet blackout in northern BC, Canada, after chewing through the base of an aspen tree.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* ## Beaver Blackout A marauding beaver has plunged several small towns into an internet blackout in northern British Columbia, Canada, after chewing through the base of an aspen tree, [*CTV News* reports](). The downed tree damaged electricity and fiber-optic lines, plunging some customers into a blackout — and cutting many more off from the internet. It's not even the first time a beaver has been blamed for taking out the internet in the frozen north. Last April, almost 1,000 customers lost service for almost an entire day after a different beaver chewed through a different fiber optic cable. At the time, a spokesperson for internet service provider Telus called the incident a "bizarre and uniquely Canadian turn of events," the [*CBC* reports](). Canadian sure, but maybe scratch the "unique." ## Chew Marks This time around, cleanup crews discovered tooth marks at the bottom of the felled tree, leading them to believe beaver may have been the culprit. "It's unusual, but it does happen every once in a while, Bob Gammer, an official from provincial electricity operator BC Hydro, told *CTV News*. "So I wouldn't be a rich man if I had a nickel for every beaver outage, but they do happen." Local utilities company CityWest is already working on a more permanent solution to ensure a beaver won't be able to take out the internet again. The plan is to lay a second fiber optics line at the bottom of the ocean along the Vancouver coast. "So if a tree goes down again, we will all still have internet through the line coming in from the ocean," Lee Brain, mayor of the nearby town of Prince Rupert, told *CTV*. **READ MORE:** [Single beaver caused mass internet, cell service outages in Northern B.C.]() \[*CTV News*\] **More on beavers:** *[The US Government Is Killing 200 Animals Every Hour]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()