Employees of the Saratov Hydroelectric Power Plant rescued a beaver that got past the plant’s safety mechanisms and miraculously avoided being sucked to its death in a hydro turbine, reads the RusHydro report.
Employees of the Saratov Hydroelectric Power Plant rescued a beaver that got past the plant’s safety mechanisms and miraculously avoided being sucked to its death in a hydro turbine, reads the RusHydro report.
On May 14, the beaver was discovered near hydroelectric unit No. 21 at the Saratov Hydroelectric Power Plant. The beaver probably swam too close to the plant’s head water (water area of the Saratov water reservoir located in close proximity to the plant),…
…and was carried by the current to the external baffle beam of the head water.
The beaver probably dived under the beam and was unable to get back out because it could not swim against the current: water levels are at their peak after the spring thaw and the water pressure is really strong. The beaver got enclosed by a trashrack on one side and concrete on the other side.
The beaver got onto some floating garbage, which was compressed between the baffle beam and the trashrack.
The beaver simply got lucky: it would have been sucked in by the operating hydro turbine when the trashrack was lifted, but the plant’s employees spotted it earlier. During their lunch break they caught it with a long fishing net.
The process lasted more than half an hour, as the beaver was not sure of the hunters’ intentions. It struggled for freedom to the end.
It dived, slipped away, hid in the swamp grass, jumped out of the net twice, tearing it, but soon got tired and was caught unharmed. Then it was lifted out of the water, placed in a rucksack of one of the plant’s employees and carried to the shore of the station’s tail water (part of the Volgograd water reservoir).
Having been released from the rucksack, the beaver quickly found its bearings.
The beaver went down to the water and started swimming along the shore.
