Alive!

AP News Service
Minot, ND
12/23/2005

Ten American skiers missing for several days in Canada's northwoods have been found. Authorities say the group walked out of the Adam Lake area late Thursday afternoon after a harrowing escape from packs of marauding beaver.

Expedition leader Mike Fogarty told authorities that the group was attacked by angry beavers shortly after arriving at the remote James Lake Cabin Wednesday night.

Fogarty spoke briefly to the media about his ordeal: "The were rabid, man! They ate the skis and poles first, making sure we couldn't escape, then they started to gnaw the door down! We thought we'd better hightail it out of there, so we set fire to the place to distract them. It worked. We spent the rest of the night running for our lives."

Search crews have confirmed that the cabin burned to the ground. Wild packs of beaver were spotted near the site, but no attacks were reported.

"All I found was splinters of skis and stuff. They were pretty hungry," local woodsman Jeff Birkie told the media after visiting the site, which is located near his mink farming operation. "I think the failure of the Aspen crop this year had a lot to do with it. I mean, they do have to keep them teeth pared down, ya know?"

The group was flown back the the U.S. aboard Apache gunships that were later used to quell the fury of the voracious animals amid protests from members of PETA, who arrived on the scene after word of the beaver attack was broadcast nationwide on CTV.