Dead animal found on Lewisburg Pike

By CHARLES BOOTH

Staff Writer

FRANKLIN -- The call went out about two weeks ago that there was a dead beaver lying in the middle of Lewisburg Pike, so the Franklin Solid Waste Department sent out a couple of guys in a pickup truck to clear the animal off the road.

When they got to the site, they found more than they were expecting.

"This bad boy was big," said Joe Williams, Solid Waste director.

Before disposing of the carcass, the crew put it on a scale and discovered it weighed 60 pounds. Williams said they also measured the beaver and found it to be 42 inches long.

"His paddle tail was about 12 inches long, 8 inches wide . . . his bottom teeth were about 4 inches long," he said.

The beaver was found on the road near the former Country Club of Franklin golf course, where it appears a vehicle struck the animal.

"Whoever hit this bad boy, they knew they hit something," Williams said.

Franklin Alderman Dodson Randolph heard about the dead beaver, but she didn't realize how big 60 pounds was until she saw a picture of it.

"It wasn't squished too much. It was in pretty good condition," she said. "I thought they were supposed to be cute little things. I didn't know they were humongous like that."

But Tony Fortner, director of Williamson County Animal Control, said the animal was just a healthy adult beaver.

"That's not unusual at all. I wouldn't say it's standard size. It's a large size, but it's not uncommon," he said.

"We get, you know, maybe two or three calls a month for everything from kittens to dogs to skunks to basic roadkill," he said. "With the exception of deer, this is the largest thing we've been called out on in a while."