The game commission is calling the notion "ludicrous," but it's too late now. The AP hatched a theory today that beavers might have been responsible for this week's crippling water main break at the state Capitol, which we guarantee will live on in jokes forever.

(In fact it already is. From the Twitter account of Harrisburg Beavers: "WE CAN BARELY TYEP LET ALONE CHEW THRU 36" WATER MAINS")

From the AP:

United Demolition and Excavating was doing site-preparation work on an industrial site owned by Harsco Corp. when the first rupture occurred Sunday and crews repairing that break later discovered a separate tear in the main line. They completed a bypass of the damaged section on Wednesday and city officials said Thursday the system was functioning properly.

Thousands of state employees whose jobs were deemed "non-essential" were given the day off or sent home early during the shutdown and put in their first full day of work for the week on Thursday. Gov. Tom Corbett has said it is not possible to calculate the cost of the lost work time.

A man who answered the phone at United's Clarence, N.Y., headquarters Friday asserted that the pipes had been damaged by beavers but declined to identify himself and hung up twice on a reporter seeking information about the incident.

Officials in Harrisburg have not mentioned any such connection, and a Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman called the claim ludicrous.