WARNING: This post contains photos some people may find disturbing
It was a gruesome sight for those out on the South Saskatchewan River and the images are circulating on social media. This past weekend, some photos were snapped of two dead beavers crushed up against a Saskatoon storm sewer outfall grate.
Officials with Saskatoon’s public works department call the incident “very unfortunate.”
“It’s something that very recently just happened. We have a lot of staff that have been around 30 years and this is the first time they’ve seen anything like this,” said Trent Schmidt, the city’s acting director of public works.
“This would have been a weird, one-off event.”
Schmidt said the beavers must have somehow squeezed in through the grating and found themselves trapped during a downpour that flooded the system with debris and the animals couldn’t find their way out.
As soon as the city was made aware of it, clean-up was undertaken at the outfall along the riverbank by Rotary Park. The beavers and debris were removed first thing Tuesday morning.
READ MORE: Trappers bring orphaned baby beavers to safety in the city
At this point, no changes will be made to the space size on the outfall grates and crews will continue inspecting the outfalls as per usual throughout the year.
Meaghan Craig contributed to this story