Belorussian beavers became accidental vigilantes when a haul of smuggled cigarettes became stuck in their dam.
This is a fun story but almost nothing about the report is comprehensible to me. See if you can figure it out.
The rodents felled a tree to form the foundations for their new home. By chance it also served as a barrier to a consignment of GPS-tracked cigarettes, whose progress was halted just 15 meters from the Lithuanian border. The small raft was visible to border guards, who are currently investigating the origin of the contraband.
I assume the reporters are operating under the false assumption that beavers live in the dam, and that the dam prevented a floating raft of contraband from getting to its destination. And this is news exactly why?
This is not the first time the four-legged creatures have made international headlines. Back in 2008, the furry animals nearly caused a diplomatic row between Belarus and Lithuania.
A family of beavers had constructed a dam that threatened to flood part of the border area.
Specialists were arguing over whether the beavers come from Belarus or Lithuania: in Belarus beavers are a protected species and it is illegal to hunt them.
SUBspecies, but okay. I have an idea. Since they’re impossible to tell apart let’s not kill either one, okay? What happened to the cigarettes anyway?
