THE BEAVER IN THE HOLE MEETS HIS ACE-IN-THE-HOLE

As of last night the Kincaid fire had burned through nearly 75,000 acres. It has destroyed nearly 150 structures and was 15 percent contained. Almost 5000 firefighters are on the case and as of last evening Safari West was still holding against an unbelievable wall of fire. Today the wind is picking up again and hopes are slim that the line will hold.

There just isn’t enough good news to go around lately, but this story of B.C. family on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend will help.

B.C. family rescues beaver trapped in a hole

A Nanaimo-area beaver had a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving weekend after a Shawnigan Lake family rescued it from being trapped in a hole.

“We were camping up in Cassidy at the Mountainaire Campground and we decided to go for a walk,” Jennifer Buck explained. “The guys were looking for a place to go fishing and we were on the beach and looked across the water and there was a group of people sticking logs down into this hole.”

The Buck family was curious, so they ventured over.

Other hikers had been offering sticks to the beaver in an attempt to coax it out of the six-foot-deep crevasse in which it was stuck. It was to no avail.

“They thought he would maybe walk up the sticks,” she said.

The beaver didn’t budge.

In life or death situations like this one, you ask yourself: ‘what would I do if I were there?” A hole big and deep enough to trap a beaver. No fire department on hand to make the rescue. Just a frightened, lost beaver that happens to be weilding some teeth sharp enough to cut down a cottonwood that could easily take off a forearm without meaning too. Well what would you do?

A few test pokes to see if the beaver would attack if touched, and Dustin made the decision to hop into the hole himself.

“He just went down there and pulled him out,” Jennifer said.

The beaver did not struggle.

“We figure he’d been there a few days,” she said. “He probably hadn’t eaten in a few days. He was too weak to even fight back. As soon as we brought him out, he was a little bit out of it. We stayed because he seemed to be heading back toward the hole, or over the edge of the rocks.”

DUSTIN! You are our hero. And thank goodness that looks to have been a weakened juvenile beaver. I’m not sure I would even jump down a hole to get a stray dog. But this was clearly the right move. He needed help and you were the help.

Once he did find his way to the edge of the forest, Jennifer said the little critter right away started eating a maple leaf and other branches.

It was a new experience for her family, and for the Lewis family, who she said was helpful in the rescue as well. It’s something they weren’t expecting to do on Thanksgiving Sunday, but were happy to be a part of regardless.

“You don’t necessarily ever plan to run into a beaver,” Jennifer said with a laugh.

Unless you’re me. Or anyone who has ever met me or happens to be reading this web site. But thank goodness you were crazy brave Dustin and jumped into that hole. It’s true that beaver is little but the man to bled to death in belarus was trying to pick up a little beaver also. I think your good intentions must have saved you.

The beaver in the hole met his Ace-in-the-hole it seems.

Now tell me you filled up that hole with mud and sticks so that nothing else is ever going to get trapped in it and we’ll have a new best friend! I’m so glad Dustin and his family were on hand to rescue this little guy. Little beavers sure do get themselves into some dangerous situations, don’t they?