AN ICONIC CANADIAN STORY
Saskatoon beaver steals Canadian flag, makes dinner out of flag pole

Mickey Djuric 

CBC

22/6/2021

 

© Mike's Videos of Beavers/YouTube Spud, a one-year-old beaver that lives along the Meewasin Trail in Saskatoon, appears to be standing on guard for the Canadian flag. But the young beaver had other plans.

A Saskatoon photographer captured his own heritage minute after he witnessed a beaver standing on guard for thee, right under a Canadian flag.

Or so he thought.

Using two branches, Mike Digout placed a Canadian flag over a popular beaver passage in the heart of Saskatoon on the Meewasin Trail.

A family of beavers are known to frequent the area so Digout thought it'd be "really cool to get a picture of a beaver with a Canadian flag."

But Canada's national animal had other plans.

A one-year-old beaver — appropriately named Spud by the local photographers because she's "the cutest little potato in the pond" — was the first to take interest.

"Spud is a really curious beaver and pays a lot of attention to photographers and human things," Digout said.

At first, Spud got under the banner, and stood straight up.

Digout couldn't believe what he was witnessing so he quickly clicked the shutter button on his camera, while filming the moment with another.

"What occurred to me immediately was the part of the national anthem that says 'We stand on guard for thee' and here this furry little beaver — which is a well-known symbol of Canada — standing straight up and actually looking like it was paying respect to the flag because she was looking right at it," Dugout said.

The moment was brief before Spud's ulterior motive was revealed.

"She obviously recognized the smell of something she likes to eat. She leaned over, and after looking at it a few times, she grabbed one of the branches that was holding up the flag and made a run for it," Digout said.

He ran after her so the flag wouldn't end up as garbage in the pond.

"Just as I was about to take steps toward her, the flag broke off the flagpole, and she scurried back into the pond with dinner out of my flag pole."