Beaver Sparks Blaze

This unlikely event was reported in the March-April 2002 issue of Petersen's Hunting magazine, as follows:

A beaver was the unlikely arsonist in a forest fire that destroyed 70 acres in Watauga County, North Carolina. The beaver had been gnawing down trees to make a dam when one of the trees fell and landed on power lines, causing them to spark and ignite a blaze. Investigators said all evidence pointed to the animal being the culprit. There were teeth marks on the tree, and it was located right next to a pond that was stopped by a beaver dam.