"I couldn't believe I was seeing it," Galler told CBS News Minnesota. "The minute that beaver made a noise, it was a millisecond, and that wolf's ears perked up. Next thing I know, he's lunging through the water. He reached underneath and pulled that beaver right up."
CBS News Minnesota
"I'm not sure if he saw me or maybe caught my wind," Galler said. "I would say that's by far the wildest thing that I've seen. I didn't know how rare it was until I spoke to someone at Voyageurs Wolf Project."
Tom Gable, project lead for the Voyageurs Wolf Project, confirmed how rare this type of attack is. In fact, it's only the third confirmed instance of wolves preying on beavers caught on video.
"What he captured here is one in a million or more," Gable said. "When I saw it, I was like, 'Wow that is incredible. That is super cool.'"
The Voyageurs Wolf Project monitors wolf packs in and around Voyageurs National Park, which is in northern Minnesota. The wolf population there has remained relatively stable since the late 1990s, according to researchers.
It's been a rough year for beavers in Minnesota. The second confirmed wolf-beaver killing showed up on trail camera footage from October, this time on dry land. The first recorded instance happened in Quebec in 2015.
