Beavers beware: Russian charity accidentally encourages cull with typo

Rather than encouraging readers to “Do good!”, Russian charity Mercy Capital accidentally advocated something a little more sinister: “Exterminate beavers!”.

This rather violent message was down to an unfortunate typo, printed on no less than 1 million leaflets. The charity group paid 375,000 rubles ($6,000) for the privilege, and are unsurprisingly dismayed by this turn of events.

According to Ivan Makarov, a representative for Mercy Capital, the printing house commissioned to produce the pamphlets is simply refusing to take any responsibility, citing in their defence Soviet-era regulations stating that minor typing errors don’t amount to contract violations. According to the printing house, “no one will notice”. Seems plausible.

“As an animal rights activist,” Mr Makarov commented, “I fear that people might really start exterminating beavers, if the foundation starts handing out leaflets like these, the way they are now.”

If one of these leaflets falls into your hands, remember what not to do.

Source: The Moscow Times