A strange incident in Canada disrupted internet service across at least 14 small communities for eight hours after a beaver caused a fiber cut. The creature gnawed a poplar trunk, and in the moment of its struggle to retreat, it toppled the tree and damaged fiber optic cables belonging to the major telecommunications company Telus.
Usually these lines run underground, but in this case the marshy terrain left the cables stretched between posts, making reliable burial impractical and exposing the system to the animal’s curious foraging. The outcome was an eight-hour outage that affected residents and local businesses alike, with many shops losing the ability to process non-cash payments during the downtime.
Experts who worked to restore service noted the recurring nature of this kind of disruption. One specialist quipped that if a person were paid a penny for each beaver-related fault, the tally would stack quickly enough to turn a profit, but stressed that this is far from an isolated problem.
Journalists with Metro pointed out that a similar incident occurred in the same Canadian region, British Columbia, back in 2021, when a beaver damaged a cable and left roughly 900 people without internet access. The recurring pattern underscores how wildlife can unintentionally impact critical infrastructure in remote and semi-urban areas.
Earlier coverage by other outlets noted related issues with infrastructure and service logistics in the region, illustrating a broader discussion about how digital networks intersect with natural environments. The episode serves as a reminder that even in modern, connected communities, vulnerabilities in physical networks can still surface in unexpected ways.