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Sick beaver hitches 400-km ride after Ottawa-area sanctuary issues urgent plea

In what must have been one of the most Canadian public service announcements ever, the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary tweeted out an urgent call for help. It needed to get a sick beaver from Ottawa to Rosseau, Ont. — 400 km away.

Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary tweet turns 'lethargic' rodent into social media star

CBC News ·
The Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary posted a photo of this beaver that needs a ride to Rousseau, Ont., for the winter. A driver was quickly found. (Submitted by the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.)

In what will surely go down as one of the most Canadian public service announcements ever, the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary tweeted out an urgent call for help late Tuesday afternoon.

It needed to get a sick beaver from Ottawa to Rosseau, Ont. — a distance of nearly 400 kilometres — and was looking for a volunteer driver.

They weren't messing around.

Heather Badenoch, a volunteer board member with the sanctuary, said the sick beaver was found in someone's backyard, far from water.

She described the 11-kilogram beaver as "dehydrated, underweight and lethargic."

"He is not behaving normally the way a beaver should behave," Badenoch said.

The beaver needed to be transported to the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, she said, where the animal would get the medical attention it needed. The Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary doesn't have the setup to take care of the beaver through the winter.

The Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is about a four-hour drive from the capital.

Unsurprisingly, the Twittersphere was on it.

Of course, there were a few bad beaver puns along the way.

The #BeaverTaxi hashtag was born

Within 30 minutes a driver was found. 

Because Canada.

The beaver — and its driver — hit the road Wednesday morning.

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