In the 1940’s, The Idaho Department of Fish and Game dropped beavers into the backcountry by parachute.
It was a simpler time. And also a bizarre time.
I wrote about the parachuting beavers a little less than a year ago when the story first resurfaced. It delighted me, and it still does.
Now, to my complete glee, there’s a video to go with the story.
The 14-minute video was re-discovered recently by a Fish and Game historian. It’s now available on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
The video is from the 1950s, which you can tell in a second. The music and the narration are delightfully iconic.
The video, “Fur to the Future,” shows the process of trapping and releasing three different furry critters: muskrat, beavers and martin.
The section with the beavers begins at 7:25. The beavers are pretty easy to handle, apparently. The trappers don’t even bother with gloves — just shove the beavers back in the box when they start to pop out.
There’s footage of parachutes, with beavers in boxes underneath, dropping into a wet meadow.
“The box opens and a most unusual and novel trip ends for Mr. Beaver,” the narrator says.
Novel indeed.
The longest section of the video is for the muskrats, which are small, adorable and apparently pretty easy to handle.
“Out they come!” said the narrator. “Fieldmen lift them by their tails. It doesn’t bother the muskrats at all. It would seem the tails were put there for lifting handles.”
I would argue that the muskrats seem a bit perturbed, although unharmed, by having their tails used as handles.
However, one muskrat didn’t mind his tail being used as a handle as long as he had something tasty to chew on.
“This little fellow doesn’t mind the long unfamiliar trip he’s just experienced,” the narrator said. “That willow twig is what he wanted in the first place. ‘That’s part of my diet,’ he would say. ‘This place is OK!’”
The film ends with martins. They are not as amiable as the muskrats or beavers, as shown by one of the trapper’s bloody hands as he tries to tag a twisting, furious martin.
I highly recommend the video. And if you’d like to know more about why beavers were parachuting, check out this hilarious and informative account.
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