Skydiving Beavers: Idaho's 1948 Wild Adventure!
Do you ever think about how animals are relocated? I'm sure you've seen a horse in on of those trailers on the road or put your dog on a plane but I'm talking about wild animals. Like Beavers.
Idaho has quite the story about relocating a bunch of beavers after World War Two and I will tell you that story but first...
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Payette Lake in Idaho is a two and a half hour drive north of Boise. Absolutely beautiful and secluded. even more so back in at 1940s. One summer day an old beaver was swimming around the lake, doing his morning stretches and laps around and found himself a nice stick to chew on. This beaver hoisted himself up onto the muddy shore and nibbled happily with his dark deep orange teeth. The cool wind blew through his fur when he sees a even better stick to chew on. This beaver waddles his way over and snatched the stick and rushed it into his mouth to devour. As soon as he did this a loud metallic snap rings in his ears and he realizes immediately that he has been tricked and trapped for a good while he tries to gnaw his way out but to no avail, this metal is not like the sticks and twigs he was accustomed to. Soon a figure walks towards him, and then the ground disappears. Within a few hours he is indoors at some kind of warehouse still fighting to get out.
We'll get back to that beaver in just a minute.
After World War 2 The little ol' town of McCall Idaho began to grow. People were building new houses and soon they realized that there were a ton of beavers living around and though they were harmless, their dams caused flooding sometimes. Eventually enough people complained that the Fish and Game Department was tasked to do something about it.
They couldn't just kill the beavers, they were good for the ecosystem, unlike the Nutria that invaded California in recent years. So they simply needed to relocate the little guys. so for awhile they'd trap drive and dump these beavers but the problem never went away. they needed to go further. So they'd trap ship and drive then pack onto mules and trek for a few days into the middle of nowhere then dump them.
This was great but it took forever, the beavers had a hard time and some even died, the mules didn't like the idea of a giant rat being tied to them either. So something had to be done.
Enter this guy Elmo Heter, He came up with an idea, and idea so crazy it might just work.
Send the beavers on a skydiving trip.
Mr. Heter introduced himself to the scared little ol' beaver. then asked his name. The beaver of course didn't speak English so Heter gave him the name that would foreshadow his future, Giranimo. Geronimo was loaded up into a box specially made for him it was essentially two boxes clasped together and held shut by some rope. Then they took a little drive to the airport.
At the airport, Geronimo and Mr. Heter hopped into a little plane and took off. Mr. Heter took out a surplus parachute from the war and tied it to the box. then after a little while of flying, Heter tossed the box over while the beaver yelled out his name. Giranimo!
The parachute opened and Geronimo was gently brought back to earth. He wasn't sure what just happened and as soon as the box opened he made a run for it. But alas, a net shot right down over him and he was loaded right back into the box, carried over to a truck and driven back to the airport.
Mr. Heter and his coworkers inspected Geronimo and decided he was perfectly okay and his squealing was his way of saying he wanted to go again. So they obliged. To they skies they went and to the ground he flew. Again and again and again.
Having proven this method of relocation safe, they rounded up all the beavers they could find and on August 14th 1948 the Great Idaho Beaver skydive competition began. Geronimo went first of course being the most accomplished in his class and brought along 3 of his girlfriends in his box. After him 72 more Beavers over the next few days followed suit to take over the land known as Chamberlain Basin within the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area.
Every single beaver who signed the waiver for this skydiving competition lived to squeal the tale except one. He wasn't listening to the pilot when he told him to keep his hands arms and legs inside the box during the drop and instead clawed his way on top of the box attempting to parasail his way to the finish line. But sadly he died.
PETA came out crying about how cruel this all was. However the numbers show that the survival rate was way higher skydiving vs the Oregon trail idea.
