Parts Of Canada Lost Internet After Beaver Gnawed On Tree That Fell On Cables

A beaver caused power and internet service outages in areas of the Canadian province of British Columbia last week.

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (B.C. Hydro) said one of the large rodents chewed through an aspen tree that ended up falling on June 7 on a Telus fiber-optic cable line and B.C. Hydro lines strung along the latter company's poles between Topley and Houston, CTV News reported.

This led to intermittent internet, TV, home phone and wireless service outages in several communities across the province's northwest.

The felled tree caused a fire, which was responded to by members of the Topley Volunteer Fire Department, according to the outlet.

Around 21 B.C. Hydro customers were affected by the resulting power outage, company spokesperson Simi Heer was cited as saying by CBC.

The damage to Telus' fiber-optic line reportedly affected its customers in Burns Lake, Granisle, Haida Gwaii, Houston, Kitimat, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace, Thornhill, Topley, Telkwa, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof and the Hazeltons.

Customers of CityWest, a utility company owned by the City of Prince Rupert, were also affected as they used the Telus line.

There is only one fiber-optic cable between Prince George and Prince Rupert, according to the latter city's mayor, Lee Brain.

Telus later worked with B.C. Hydro to repair the damage and restore service. Power was restored to the affected B.C. Hydro customers on the day of the incident.

Workers suspected that a beaver had something to do with the felled tree, which went down close to Highway 16, after repairs were made, according to the company.

"They discovered the markings on the bottom of the tree, which indicated that it had been chewed through by a beaver," Heer said.

There was no indication that the rodent had been harmed in any way, the spokesperson added.

Nearly a thousand Telus customers in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, also lost their internet service in April last year after a beaver chewed through a fiber cable.

A Telus spokesperson at the time called the incident a "bizarre and uniquely Canadian turn of events."

Systems are in place to try to prevent such occurrences from ever happening, but they do happen from time to time, according to Heer.

"We do have a very vast system and we serve most of the province and that means we have lines and infrastructure that run through very remote areas, and at times wildlife can come into contact with our system," the spokesperson said.

CityWest is now laying a second fiber-optics line down the coast to connect to Vancouver.

"So if a tree goes down again, we will all still have internet through the line coming in from the ocean," Brain said.