An Idaho historian has uncovered 1950s footage of a bizarre wildlife experiment when beavers were packed into travel boxes and dropped from a plane

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

More than half a century after a group of beavers were parachuted into the Idaho backcountry, the state’s department of fish and game has uncovered film footage of the quirky wildlife management moment.

In the 1940s the department was trying to deal with an overpopulation of beavers in some regions when wildlife managers settled on a novel idea. They captured beavers and other fur-bearing rodents, packed them into boxes, attached parachutes and dropped them from a plane into the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

Boise state public radio reports that a film made around 1950 showed the infamous beaver drops, but it had long been lost.

Recently, fish and game historian Sharon Clark found the fragile film, which had been mislabeled and stored in the wrong file.

Now it has been digitized and released by the Idaho Historical Society and the department of fish and game on YouTube.

Animal lovers, take heart: it appears all beavers survived their flying adventures unharmed.

