Canadian social media users are claiming a video shows a beaver attacking immigrants in the country, inspiring comments about how the newcomers were supposedly rejected by the animal, a national symbol. However, the clip was not recorded in Canada; news reports and the original poster confirm it was taken in the US state of New Jersey.
“Even the beavers in our country want these immigrants out,” says text over a May 5, 2026 Instagram reel.
In the video, four people face off with a beaver at the edge of a body of water in a wooded area. Emojis for the Canadian flag and a beaver are layered over the video, which ends by flashing a cartoon drawing of the animal holding up a flag that reads: “Deport them all.”
The clip surged across Instagram, X and Facebook, accompanied by the same claim that it showed a beaver fighting immigrants in Canada. Many of the posts, which also appeared in French, played up the beaver as symbol of Canadian identity or called the rodent a “patriot.”
Screenshot of an Instagram post taken May 6, 2026
Screenshot of a Facebook post taken May 6, 2026
A previous push by the Canadian government to bring in high levels of immigrant workers, which coincided with rising costs of living, saw the country flip its long-held, pro-immigration consensus.
While the government has backtracked on the number of newcomers it is allowing into the country, false claims about immigrants to Canada have repeatedly spread online.
The posts claiming the video circulating on social media showed a beaver attacking immigrants in Canada are similarly inaccurate.
Reverse image searches surfaced several other posts and news articles that placed the clip in Mahwah, New Jersey (archived here, here, here, here and here).
The earliest version of the video was shared by Facebook user Michael Noonan, who confirmed to AFP in a May 6 direct message that the clip was filmed at Lake Henry in Mahwah (archived here and here).
Other news reports detailed how an eight-year-old boy was attacked May 3 at a Mahwah park by a beaver that later tested positive for rabies (archived here and here). The Mahwah Health Department released a statement May 5 advising anyone who had contact with the animal to seek a medical assessment (archived here).
A local television station reported that at least one other beaver attack had occurred within the week in the same area (archived here).
Read more of AFP’s reporting on misinformation in Canada here.