Business owner and St. Albert resident John Engel was a little beat up after a run-in with a beaver late Tuesday night.
After a long day at Mission: Fun and Games, Engel was cycling home along his usual route on the Red Willow Trail system. He reached the underpass for the Perron Street bridge around 11:30 p.m. when something bolted out of the shadows and across his path.
“It was under my tire almost immediately,” said Engel.
The wheel went left; Engel went right, falling hard on his elbow.
Cursing, the business owner spotted a large dark mammal on the pavement next to him. Is that a beaver, or a porcupine, thought Engel. “I’m not touching it if it’s a porcupine,” he said.
Thank goodness it wasn’t, or we might be telling a different tale. Instead, it was that bucktooth symbol of Canadiana – the beaver – that had wedged itself under the front tire of Engel’s bike.
Stunned, Engel watched the animal pick itself up, and once again bolt – this time down the embankment and into the Sturgeon.
“I heard the splash into the river and I knew it must have been a beaver,” he said. It appeared unhurt as it swam away.
After readjusting his helmet and texting his wife to ready some ice and bandages, he rode the rest of the way home.
“My elbow was really sore and I suspected it was bleeding. I only had to pedal along a few more metres to feel the blood inside my jacket dribbling down,” said Engel.
The damage to his elbow was more extensive than he had originally thought, so the couple made their way to the hospital to get Engel stitched up, but not without first stopping by the store to grab some instruction manuals – a bit of light reading for the waiting room.
When he went to check in at the Sturgeon Hospital’s emergency department, he told the triage nurse that he had a collision with a beaver on his bike.
The nurse turned to Engel’s wife with a smile: “What did he say?”
“A beaver,” said his wife.
The triage nurse then asked Engel if he’d been drinking or if he was taking any medication.
“It kind of hurt my feelings when she asked,” said Engel. “But my wife said they’re supposed to ask that question.”
“It’s a little hard to believe, no doubt about it,” he conceded.
The story made the hospital staff’s morning. Engel was also quite a hit with staff at the Grandin Medical Clinic later that day when he had to stop by for a tetanus shot.
A few bruised ribs and seven stitches later Engel left the emergency room early Wednesday morning to get a bit of shuteye before his birthday party that afternoon.
Oh right, did we mention it was Engel’s 55th birthday on March 30? He spent the day playing board games and becoming ambidextrous while his right elbow soaked in a bowl of ice.
