Yes mum, a beaver chopped down a tree onto my car

This must be a quintessentially Canadian story, at least to those who think of Canada as the land of trees, hills, snow, and beavers.

I was working quietly in my office when Carl, one of our developers, sais, “Uh, John, a tree just fell on your car.”

Not quite knowing whether or not to believe him, I walked over to the window, and sure enough, there was a tree on my car.

Our office is right next to a path of greenspace … yes, an industrial park … and there are quite a few trees right next to our parking lot.

We went down there, a bunch of others coming out of the office to check it out, and lifted the tree off. It was only about a 13-meter tall tree, with a trunk only about 10-15 cm thick at the base. Fortunately, a fence caught most of the weight, and though I haven’t checked REALLY closely yet, I don’t think there’s much damage.

But the really interesting part is what we saw when we checked out why the tree had fallen. The stump (and about 3-4 others in the area) had been gnawed through.

There’s also a stream/pond back in the greenspace, and yes, there’s a beaver living there who is forming his dam.

Unbelievable.

Not only was my car hit by a tree, my car was hit by a tree that a beaver cut down.

I’ve never heard of that happening before. Too bad I didn’t get a picture.