When Diane left city life behind and moved to the tiny town of Field in Ontario, she found herself surrounded by wildlife she wasn’t quite sure how to live alongside. So she came up with a plan: trail cameras.
“I had to decide — stay inside afraid of every animal … or go outside and be brave,” Diane, who runs the Facebook page Adventurous Diane, told The Dodo. “It took about three years, but I’m no longer afraid. I have 16 trail cameras spread out over 30 miles, and I hike alone all the time. It’s an honor to explore untouched wilderness.”
Her trail cameras capture everything from bears and wolves to otters, lynx, raccoons, deer and countless birds. One camera overlooked an old, run-down pond — a place that recently got a new tenant: a very determined beaver.
Beavers rebuild their ponds by cutting down trees with their giant teeth, and this one wasted no time getting to work.
But while improving his new home, he noticed something else nearby — the tree holding Diane’s trail camera.
And apparently, that tree had to go.
“When the beaver starts to cut the tree, he bumps the camera, making it wobble side to side,” Diane said. “This went on for two days straight, giving me about 300 pictures of nothing but movement — until the tree finally fell.”
Diane was watching the footage when suddenly the screen went black. Once the dust cleared, the camera was pointing straight up at the sky. She couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
“I was in total shock — then I had to laugh,” she said. “I was so grateful my camera survived.”
She hiked out to retrieve it and found the camera lying on the ground, tree chopped clean through. Instead of giving up, she simply mounted it again — this time on a sturdy stick tied to the remains of the tree.
Diane hasn’t met her beaver buddy face-to-face, but his hard work is everywhere. She’s excited to keep filming his progress — and she’s crossing her fingers he leaves the camera standing next time.
