You might remember how, in Jaws, a particularly hungry great white shark terrorized a small vacation town at the peak of summer tourism season. This story is a bit like that, just instead of an almost supernaturally violent great white shark, it’s rabid beavers.
According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, two people have been attacked by beavers at Cunningham Falls State Park in less than two weeks, forcing officials to close additional areas around Hunting Creek Lake while they investigate a possible outbreak.
All the story needs is a terrible mayor who refuses to close the park at risk of losing our tourism dollars. Thankfully, all state officials involved seem to be sane.
Two Rabid Beavers Attacked People at the Same Maryland State Park
The first attack happened July 26, when a beaver bit a 13-year-old boy who was swimming in the lake. He suffered injuries to his hands and chest and was airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital. The beaver was captured and euthanized. A rabies test came back positive.
It would’ve been an unremarkable one-off incident if only it didn’t happen again, this time obviously with a completely different rabid beaver, this one attacking a 19-year-old fisherman on August 5, delivering a bite to the fisherman’s ankle. He got a tetanus shot and a preventive rabies treatment, so you should be fine. The same cannot be said of the second beaver, which was captured and euthanized. Tests also confirmed that it had rabies.
Beavers rarely attack humans. Quite the opposite, really. They tend to avoid people whenever possible so they can focus on constructing their very cool wooden dams. They aren’t attacking because they want to, but because animals with rabies get disoriented and aggressive. That usual healthy fear of humanity falls away and is replaced with an intense, uncontrollable ferociousness.
Officials have prohibited pretty much any activity around the lake as they conduct day-and-night surveillance to see if any other beavers are infected.