Idaho’s Great Beaver Airlift

Remembering a time when the woodland animals dropped from the sky.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, October 17, 2025 at 09:06 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Parachuting beaver boxes dropped from an airplane. [Credit: Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Pittman Robertson Trout Fund]

Key Takeaways:

In 1948, 76 beavers were uniquely relocated from McCall, Idaho, to a remote wilderness by parachuting them in specially designed boxes, an innovative solution to protect them from urban expansion.
This "parabeaver" technique, tested by a beaver named Geronimo, proved highly successful, establishing thriving new colonies that have persisted for many generations and were more effective and less stressful than traditional ground transport.
Though this specific parachuting method for beavers is no longer utilized, aircraft continue to play a crucial role in other wildlife management efforts in Idaho, such as surveys, captures, and fish stocking.

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Usually, aircraft and wild animals, such as deer, rabbits, and birds, are a bad combination.

You have probably heard about aircraft and animal collisions at your airport, and the animal always loses. But sometimes, aviation comes to the rescue of animals. That was the case in 1948 when aircraft were used to relocate beavers from the growing city of McCall, Idaho, to central Idaho, where they thrived. And the beavers didn’t just fly aboard the aircraft for relocation—they were dropped by parachute.