A busy beaver took a bite out of line and brought telecommunications to a standstill Wednesday in Southwest Arkansas after its buck teeth severed an AT&T fiber optic cable.

“It was obviously beaver territory,” said Alan Ford, news director for KHPA radio in Hope. “There were maybe three or five beaver dams in that area.”

Ford went to investigate the beaver bite site about 10 miles northeast of Hope on U.S. Highway 67 after telephone service was disabled at the country music radio station.

“With all of the rain, the ground was washed away and the line was ...