Mountie ushers wandering beaver off B.C. highway

It doesn't get more Canadian than a Mountie stopping traffic to get a beaver off a highway.

That's what happened on the Trans-Canada Highway on Vancouver Island on March 25.

Const. Andy Dunstan says the RCMP were in the Malahat area doing routine traffic enforcement when they noticed some cars slowing down unusually, so an officer went up to investigate, assuming it was some sort of an animal.

"It's B.C., so you never know what you're going to get. But it was actually a beaver sitting in the right-hand lane quite happily just looking at the RCMP officer."

Dunstansaid the officer tried to encourage the beaver to move off the highway, but it hissed at him, showing its buck teeth.

"After some cajoling and staring, the beaver finally turned its tail and went off the highway. It wasn't in any hurry."

Dunstan said his colleague did the right thing in diverting traffic around the beaver.

The whole event was caught on camera by an RCMPdash camera.

"What could be more Canadian than an RCMP officer ushering a beaver off the highway," Dunstansaid.