A beaver shot out of the grass on Wednesday morning and attacked mountain biker Wil van Paridon. The 70-year-old cyclist from Eelde could no longer avoid the large rodent and ran over the animal with his rear wheel.
There are no images of the incident. But based on Van Paridon’s detailed description, there is no doubt that it is a beaver, according to beaver expert Cindy de Jonge from Assen.
Van Paridon was almost at the meeting point of his MTB group just before nine o’clock on Wednesday morning: at the roundabout at Zuidlaren, the entrance to the N34. “It is a path through a nature reserve. There was a man walking in front of me with two dogs, they were barking a lot. Perhaps thanks to their instincts they had already noticed the beaver. Suddenly an animal shoots forward from the grass, he flew towards my foot. Its head low, it hissed, it’s like a little bulldozer! I heard the scratching nails on the bike path. I turned my foot so that the beaver missed and drove over it with my back wheel. That was just like a tree trunk .”
Then the animal bolted away. “I tried to keep the steering wheel steady, looked back and didn’t see him anymore. It was lucky that he didn’t catch me, what would have happened if I fell on him?”
A beaver has large teeth, with which it can gnaw through entire tree trunks. An adult beaver weighs between thirty and thirty-five kilos, has a head-body length of up to one meter and a tail of about thirty centimeters. It is the largest rodent in Europe. But Van Paridon is not afraid: “I think it was because of the dogs, then a cyclist with a colored suit arrived… an encounter with a beaver, I think it’s nice!”
A number of beaver families have been living in this area, in the Drentsche Aa National Park, for years, says De Jonge. She works as a beaver expert for the province of Drenthe and knows that cycle paths regularly cross wildlife habitats. “Their game changes sometimes visibly walk through people’s path. But the animals do not apply the same priority rules.”
Even though the paths are used by both people and beavers; a collision is an exceptional situation, a combination of circumstances. “A beaver can hear and smell well, but see less well. He was probably alert because of the dogs and suddenly there is the fast MTB rider. The fact that he now attacked does not mean that beavers are aggressive. They usually run away from people , but here several paths coincidentally crossed.”
“A beaver is usually active at dusk and at night, but this animal went from A to B in the morning via land. At that time, beavers are extra vulnerable to large predators. Beavers move more safely via water. They are able to to bite away when they find themselves in a dire situation or when they are approached at close range. Dogs can be a threat, but conversely, beavers can also lunge at a dog out of defense. Especially during this period, when beavers are exploring, when there are pregnant beavers and soon around May or June when there are young ones. In a beaver habitat it is nice for both parties to have the dog safely on a leash.”
The number of beavers in Drenthe is growing. About 400 beavers live in the Northern Netherlands, there are about 115 territories. “We occasionally come into contact with each other, it cannot be otherwise. I think this beaver is just as shocked as the cyclist. Beavers are tough animals and can take a beating. It’s nice for both parties that this special encounter went smoothly.” is over,” said De Jonge.
Beavers have fixed routes that they travel, but young beavers also explore when they are a year or two old, in search of their own territory. This is not without risk, every now and then a beaver is killed when crossing motorways and cycle paths. De Jonge is not aware of any other collisions between bicycle and beaver. However, a few times a year a beaver is hit by a car or train. “Two weeks ago there was a biting incident in Belgium. This beaver was approached up close by a man who wanted to take a picture with the animal. The beaver did not appreciate this.”
