2024-01-08 12:37:00
Sunday evening, a motorist, who wanted to recover his vehicle a stone’s throw from the Pont de l’Europe, launched a call for help. The reason ? A beaver… which prevented him from getting into his car. Matthieu Charlier, inspector at the Huy police zone, was at work. “I was doing 2-10 hours. We were called for a beaver which was walking along the small wall, below the Pont de l’Europe. It was in any case there when we arrived.” Calling for such an intervention is rather rare. “It reminds me of the time a fox ended up at the police station…” Beavers, the policeman admits: he hasn’t seen many in his life. “When it’s NAC, the new pets, we know that.”
The mobile unit was returning from an intervention, it was followed by the firefighters. Everyone stopped under the Europe Bridge. “We tried to contain him there, on this little wall, so that he wouldn’t go onto the road.” A call was made to the Creaves center in Andenne to come and collect it. Once Creaves is there, “we helped them put the beaver in a box. But as he wanted to get out, I wanted to show with my foot where he should go.” And the beaver, feeling trapped or frightened, rolled over on the policeman’s calf. “He bit me twice. Well, that hurt. It was quite surprising, although I laugh regarding it now.” Nevertheless, the fire ambulance, which had stopped on the spot, took the police officer to the CHRH where the Emergency doctor had to put three stitches. “He just asked me if I had tetanus. He had never seen such a bite.” Afterward, the policeman wonders regarding the presence of this beaver in town. “I have never found myself in such a situation in my entire career. I am not particularly afraid of dogs but I have never had to deal with a beaver. It seems that it is eaten in Canada or even in Lithuania…”
A protected species
What happened to the beaver? He was taken care of by the Creaves center in Andenne. “He’s a youngster of the year, from last springexplains Juliette Economides, from Creaves. I don’t know how he got there, though…” Perhaps the bad weather of the last few days. Although the beaver is not injured, it is nevertheless underweight. “It may have been wandering for several days. When there are floods, they have difficulty feeding.” There today, “he is in care, he eats well”. The Andennais center will keep him for a few weeks, while he fills up. To then release it but it is more complicated because “These are hyper-territorial animals. We are going to work with the people from “Mission Castor” who know the places where it is appropriate to put them.” And Juliette Economides recognizes that the beaver is a protected species.
1704726660
#Beaver #town #Huy #years #career #explains #police #officer #photos