Beavers parachuting from an airplane sounds like a scene from a cartoon. However, back in 1948, this was a reality, and yes, footage of that exists. But first, a little backstory.
During the late 1940s, people in Idaho started migrating from cities to more remote areas of the state. However, by doing so, they encountered various problems with beavers that already lived there. Going about their business, beavers caused property damages and floods by cutting down trees and building damns.
Looking to solve the issue, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game decided to relocate beavers, which were crucial for maintaining the state’s wetlands, to another location. Experts picked out a drainage basin in Sawtooth Mountain Range, but there was just a problem: how to get the beavers there.
Transporting beavers by land was proven earlier to be a really bad option. The trip was quite exhausting for the animals, and a lot of them struggled to survive it. This led one Idaho Department of Fish and Game employee to come up with an idea to fly the beavers to the location and parachute them there. And it proved to be a success.
Beavers were placed in wooden crates with a parachute attached to them. Once the box got safely to the ground, it would immediately open thanks to a spring mechanism. A total of 76 beavers parachuted, 75 of whom survived the stunt. One beaver didn’t make it because it forced its way out of the box in mid-air.
Are you curious to see how it looks when beavers parachute? Check out the video below.
