June 28, 2008 - Mountain Beaver

It was dark and we were all outside in the back at Hansens when all the sudden Preston let out this loud, shrieking scream and then he ran over to my dad. We were all asking Preston, "What is wrong?" when all the sudden someone spotted this animal moving around the patio by the window.

Tom, Branden and Dad moved over to get a look - it looked like a huge (like 1 foot long) rat with no tail. It also moved really slowly. They went and caught it in the bucket while the girls checked on Preston - it scratched him on the leg. Once we caught it and put it in the kitty cage we tried to figure out what it was because it was so strange looking.

After Dad and Branden searched for 45 minutes on the computer (and mom's suggestion that it was a baby raccoon!) we finally figure out that it was a Mountain Beaver:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/mtn_beavers.htm

Below is a picture that we took (in the red cage) and the other one is from online so you can see what they look like.

Dad eventually took it across the trail and let it go, but it was pretty scary and weird!

This is what it said online: Most people don't know mountain beavers exist and some still continue to question that fact even after they've heard about the animals.

We can now verify for anyone who questioned their existence :)