In 1946, importing 25 pairs of beavers from Canada to Chile in order to foster a fur trade in an economically lackluster territory of Patagonia seemed like a smart idea. However, no one would have imagined these incisor-toothed vermin would one day lay waste to Patagonia’s forests. Today, there are roughly 100,000 beavers in the region and their environmental destruction has allegedly led to the most transformative destruction of its southern ecosystem since the last ice age. We traveled to the southernmost tip of Chile to meet the beaver hunters in charge of crudely restoring order to its ecosystem.
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