On July 25, 2017, the Canadian government announced that a single beaver had caused widespread internet outages in the country. The outage was first noticed by users of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, who reported that their websites were not working properly. The government later announced that the cause of the outage was a software bug that had been fixed but not released to the public. The beaver problem is not new in Canada. In fact, it has been happening for years. In 2016, a beaver was caught on camera damaging a power line in British Columbia. Since then, there have been reports of beavers being seen near power lines in other provinces as well. The problem with beavers is that they are very fast and can easily build dams to create ponds full of water. This can lead to water shortages for people and businesses in areas where they live or work. Additionally, beavers can damage pipelines and other infrastructure.
Internet access in some of British Columbia, Canada was unexpectedly shut down on June 7, lasting for “more than eight hours,” according to CTV News. NetBlocks, which tracks network disruptions and shutdowns worldwide, also identified a drop in internet access in BC during that time.
The cause of the incident was later identified as a beaver — yes, a beaver. The affected fiber optic line was strung along poles owned by the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, and when BC Hydro crews investigated the outage, they found beaver chew marks at the bottom of a tree that fell down on the lines. BC Hydro’s Bob Gammer told CTV News, “I wouldn’t be a rich man if I had a nickel for every beaver outage, but they do happen.”
Most internet outages don’t have quite as funny of a cause as a semiaquatic mammal, but similar incidents are fairly common. The site ‘Cyber Squirrel 1’ tracks network outages reportedly caused by animals, including 1,252 from squirrels and 115 from raccoons, though it hasn’t been updated since 2019.
Source: CTV News, NetBlocks
