Beaver Attacks are Serious

Gun Watch ^ | 19 December, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

I had missed this article when it came out in June of 2014.   It was particularly startling because there is no mention of the beaver having rabies.  The animal literally jumped out of the water, grabbed the kayaker by the arm, and pulled him from the boat.  From wtvr.com:

“It’s just a freak thing. This beaver was upset about something and went after him,” kayaking trainer Nate Reynolds said. “I heard him yell my name, so I come running out. As soon as I came out, I see the boat flip over, so the beaver had actually jumped up, grabbed his arm, and pulled him right out of his kayak.”

The beaver was still attached to Mike’s arm after it flipped him out of the kayak. That’s when Nate came down with the paddle. He hit the beaver with so much force it knocked the blade off the shaft.

The beaver, presumably the one who attacked, was later found, dead in the water.  Humans are much deadlier than beavers.  But as I started looking to see if there were any other beaver attacks on record, it became clear that there were several in the last three years.  In April, 2013 a man was reported killed by a beaver in Belarus.  From USAtoday:

A fisherman in Belarus was bitten to death by a beaver, and all he was doing was trying to take its picture, Sky News reports. The man spotted the beaver while fishing with friends at Lake Shestakov, but as he approached to take a photograph, the beaver bit him on the thigh. The animal managed to sever an artery, and his friends couldn't stop the blood flow.

 2012 was a banner year for beaver attacks.   Two young girls were attacked in Lake Anna by a rabid beaver in July.   The bites were severe.

The 8-year-old girl is shown above.   From nbcnews.com:

Alyssa received around 15 stitches on her upper thigh and Annabella sustained three wounds just above her knee, Wendy Radnovich told fredercksburg.com

The Spotsylvania County girls have since been released from the hospital.

The girls’ uncle shot the beaver with a BB gun, then killed it with a knife, the mother told fredericksburg.com.

This is the only attack where  a gun (another report says it was a pellet gun, not a BB gun;  I find the pellet gun more likely) was used in defense against the beaver.   The beaver pictured was rabid and weighed 65 pounds, a large specimen.   It seems likely that most of the victims would have been well served with a personal defensive firearm.

In August, 2012, Boy Scouts resorted to rocks to defend their scoutmaster.  From cbsnews.com:

After initially throwing the animal from his body, it returned to continue the attack, biting Brousseau in the leg, buttocks, arm, hand and torso before he managed to grab it and hold its jaw closed.

Brousseau threw the beaver ashore while Scouts helped him out of the water. After being momentarily stunned, the beaver began attacking a pool noodle.

It was a rabid animal.  The scouts killed it with thrown rocks.

An 83-Year-Old Woman, Lillian Peterson, was attacked by a beaver in September of  2012.  From washingtonpost.com:

A 35-pound, 24-inch rabid beaver had bitten her on the back of the leg and would not let go, sparking an ordeal that lasted more than 20 minutes Tuesday evening. The Falls Church woman and a friend battled the animal with canoe paddles, a stick and bare hands as it came at them again and again. Peterson was seriously injured.

Lillian credits her friend with saving her life.  She believes that the beaver would have killed her if she were the only one fighting it.

While I do not normally think of beavers as dangerous, it is clear that they sometimes are;  normally the dangerous ones turn out to be rabid, but that only makes them more dangerous, not less. 

It appears that the attacks are less frequent than dog attacks, but more frequent than attacks by mountain lions.  There are simply a lot more beaver than there are mountain lions.  The world is a bit more dangerous than I thought.

 ©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[umgud]

I’ve seen many, but none up close. That 65 pounder is large.

[cynwoody]

Dang, I wonder what one would do to Jimmy Carter, right..?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4p6_G4gQpk

From the Wikipedia:

“Upon closer inspection, the animal turned out to be a rabbit. Not one of your cutesy, Easter Bunny-type rabbits, but one of those big splay-footed things that we called swamp rabbits when I was growing up."

“The animal was clearly in distress, or perhaps berserk. The President confessed to having had limited experience with enraged rabbits. He was unable to reach a definite conclusion about its state of mind. What was obvious, however, was that this large, wet animal, making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth, was intent upon climbing into the Presidential boat.”

[Ken H]

This beaver was upset about something and went after him,” kayaking trainer Nate Reynolds said. “I heard him yell my name, so I come running out.

I call B.S. Beavers can't talk.

That's what they'd like you to believe.

[tumblindice]

Beavers sense my power, Mark Twain.
I don’t avoid beavers, no, not at all.
But I do deny them my essence.

[Flycatcher]

The largest one I've ever seen was at least 65 lbs. It was walking along a creek coming straight toward me. I had to get out of its way. It wasn't afraid of me at all, and I was in its way!

Huge. I couldn't believe it. I jumped out of its way and laughed. I had no idea.

[elcid1970]

Look up `beaver attack’ on youtube. Naturalist humane trapped one to move it away from farmer’s pond. Once released the beaver lunged at the man who fended it off with the havaheart trap. Beaver wasn’t rabid, but angry & growling & determined to inflict harm. It didn’t care that it was free, it just wanted to hurt the guy.

I would have settled the matter with a .22 pistol & harvested a fresh pelt & a meal of roast beaver.

This guy looked like the treehugger type.

[doorgunner69]

"That 65 pounder is large."

I do not want to know what a 65 pound beaver belongs to!

Humanoid at least.....

[laplata]

LOL

[where's_the_Outrage?]

If you’ve had your nipple bitten off by a beaver, you might be a redneck.

http://youtu.be/RjerEk16b7w

[Paul R.]

You made me almost fall off my chair!!

(I guess I was needing a good laugh.)

[PlateOfShrimp]

I remember this! Many, many years ago, someone found this in the phone book (I have no idea what prompted anyone to look for it, but my guess is that alcohol may have been involved..). We called the number and got a very official sounding recording. Never could figure out why the guy at least didn’t go by Harold.

[dragnet2]

What is that thing to behind Grandma?

[QT3.14]

Ward, weren't you a little hard on the Beaver last night?

Is Ward the coach for Oregon? They beat them 47-19. /s

[Pelham]

I see what you did

[Riley]

Damn, that’s one wildlife threat I never really considered. None near me, but I’ve spent a lot of time in their habitat. I’ll remember this next time i’m in MN.

I will keep this in mind- I kayak all the time in the warmer months on the Potomac near where at least one of the cited incidents took place, we do have them here.

I'll have to add something to my safety rig. I'd prefer it not be a pistol, for a number of reasons.

[Bratch]

[Nailbiter]

Always considered beaver to be friendly little creatures— tongue in cheek ping

[Jack Hydrazine]

That’s like the Vietnamese dentist in Seattle named Giap Phuc Dat!

http://www.nvnorthwest.com/2014/12/04/bac-si-dat-va-giai-thuong-top-contributor-nam-2014-tai-seattle/

And not a very good one at that.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/giap-dat-dmd-seattle

[Jack Hydrazine]

When beavers attack!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpj1zgyfScM

Man tries to catch beaver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySvjaz0Xbgg

[Jack Hydrazine]

You can find Ernest Batman in the Indiana white pages. And he knows Ada Batman. Look him up and give him a call some time!