Via Mary G in the thread below (I am clearly going insane because I forgot where the hell I saw it first and it was only a half hour ago in the comments here), Via the twitter machine, I have today learned one of the greatest things to happen in the United States. Apparently, after WWII, Idaho faced a set of problems. They had a nuisance beaver problem, and a surplus of WWII parachutes. Some galaxy brain came up with a solution:
In 1948, the state of Idaho solved two problems in one go: a beaver nuisance, and a surplus of parachutes left over from World War II.
Shortly after the war, people began to move nearer to Payette Lake, McCall, Idaho. The resident beavers, which had been there for decades or even centuries, were soon declared a nuisance by the Idaho Fish and Game Department, who decided to rehome them 314 kilometers (195 miles) away in the Chamberlain Basin.
The relocation of beavers was no simple task. At the time, the practice was to approach them in the wilderness and load them up on mules and horses. They were then transported to the trapper’s truck, where they would be moved (in hot and dusty conditions) closer to their new location, and loaded onto horses or mules once more, to be taken to their new home.
The whole time they would be handled by the trappers, as they needed to be constantly cooled and watered. Older beavers became quite cantankerous, while beavers of all ages often refused to eat.
“Horses and mules become spooky and quarrelsome when loaded with a struggling, odorous pair of live beavers,” Elmo W. Heter of the Idaho Fish and Game Department wrote in The Journal of Wildlife Management in 1950. “These problems involve further handling and too frequently result in a loss of beavers.”
A solution was needed, and Heter believed that solution was to throw beavers out of an airplane. Thankfully for the beavers, a little more thought was put into it before they were jettisoned at 4,500 meters (15,000 feet).
I’m not going to lie- sometimes when faced with a problem, my first idea is to throw it out of an airplane. Fortunately, they put more thought into than just that, and THERE IS VIDEO:
This is amazing.
Mary G
That’s me trying to get a cat packaged up to go to the vet.
Old School
Seems better than Delta.
NotMax
Heave It to Beaver.
CaseyL
@Old School:
No checked bags. Not even any carry-ons.
NotMax
@CaseyL
Nor, with any luck, carrions.
;)
Jamey
Dam!
Doug R
I believe the plane they were using might have been a Beaver.
JustRuss
Amazing. I take back everything I’ve said about you Cole.
Omnes Omnibus
I wonder if any of them chose blood wings.
Misterpuff
Good thing they all landed safe or they would have had some split beaver.
I’ll escort myself out.
mrmoshpotato
I love the deadpan narration on these crazy old videos.
The disposal of barrels of surplus sodium after the war is fun too.
Cathie from Canada
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
billcinsd
@Doug R: or a Lancaster Dam Buster
HumboldtBlue
@mrmoshpotato:
Goddamn.
Lynn Dee
@Cathie from Canada: Ha! I was wondering if anyone else thought of that old WKRP episode.
Clearly a kindred spirit. :)
Viva BrisVegas
I assume that what followed was a fight to death between the native Chamberlain Basin beavers and the 101st Airborne beaver paratroopers.
John Revolta
TIL that the plural of beaver is…….beaver. Who knew?
oldster
And they confined the beavers in crates made of…wood?
Maybe that’s like a time-release capsule for beavers.
Just One More Canuck
“Nice beaver!”
“thanks, I just had it stuffed”
p.a.
@mrmoshpotato: How many info shorts did this narrator get back in the day? I’ve heard his voice many times. He may even have done some Looney Tunes!
HeartlandLiberal
Emailed link to YouTube video to Ozzy Man Reviews. Told him video cries out of him to do a review. I am laughing already as I imagine his “colorful” commentary.
Booger
“I see here on your resume that you have two years experience as a, and I quote…’professional beaver bomber.’ I think HR may have some questions about that.”
Chief Oshkosh
@Doug R: I think it’s a Fairchild 71, but a DH Beaver would’ve been ironical.
Something tells me that Fish & Game didn’t really pilot this study too well…
Betty
A beaver nuisance? People moved into their territory and decided the beavers were a nuisance. Humans!
Eric NNY
I have so many inappropriate jokes to make. So many. I give up.
PaulWartenberg
This is horrifying.
Another goddamned Trail of Tears but for parachuting beavers.
Why the hell did we white folk do this to the natives of this land??? /cries
Shantanu Saha
My elite Seal Team (made up of real seals) can take those Airborne Beavers in a straight up fight.
BigJimSlade
Wow! This happened in America? We just didn’t slaughter them? Who knew we could do that?!
DCA
Thanks for making my day.
Besides beavers and parachutes, they probably had somebody who had spent WWII airdropping supplies.