The Lost Patrol

CALGARY — City officials in Red Deer, Alta. are warning pet owners to be on guard for an aggressive beaver that killed a dog and injured at least one other in an off-leash park.

On Monday, the city's parks department received a complaint from Alberta Animal Services that a beaver in northeast Red Deer had fatally attacked a dog while it was swimming in the water, said parks superintendent Trevor Poth.

Poth said it's believed the same beaver is responsible for injuring another dog that was also swimming at the time a couple weeks earlier.

"There's only two lodgings within the park," he said.

"It's our understanding the dog was in the water and saw the beaver and started to swim after it and the beaver turned around and showed aggression towards the dog."

He said it's assumed the beaver treated the dog as a predator so is acting aggressively towards all dogs as a defence mechanism.

"We are reminding people of the importance of having dogs under control and well trained," he said.

He said while confrontations with other wildlife are common, the incidents involving beavers are very unusual.

"I don't know of any other examples of beaver-dog interaction," he said.

"It came as a huge surprise to us."

Signage has been put up in the parks and the city plans to have the beaver trapped and removed from the site, Poth said.

Park users are also being reminded to use effective voice control of their dogs while off leash and to back away from wild animals when they encounter them rather than trying to scare them off.