Girl attacked by rabid beaver

Sunday Gazette Mail ^ | 7-27-03 | AP

[steveo]

SHANNONDALE, W.Va. (AP) -- An 8-year-old girl had reconstructive surgery on her hand after being attacked by a rabid beaver in Jefferson County earlier this month.

Robin Hays' said her daughter, Maddison, was playing along the Shenandoah River behind their Shannondale home on July 11 when the attack occurred.

"We were getting ready for a pig roast, and she was down there playing,'' Hays told The Journal in Martinsburg. "Suddenly, I heard a blood-curdling scream.''

Hays saw the beaver clamped onto her daughter's hand, then shook her arm to get it free, grabbed her daughter and ran.

The beaver chased them, she said, and two men attending the pig roast cornered the animal and killed it with a shovel.

Hays' daughter, who suffered bites on her leg and hand, was initially treated at Jefferson Memorial Hospital.

A specialist at Loudoun County Hospital in Virginia provided treatment on her hand that included reconstructive surgery on the tendons, nerves and veins, Hays said. Maddison's hand was in a partial cast, and she could move her fingers but not her thumb, Hays said.

"She's doing very well,'' Hays said.

State Division of Natural Resources officers took the dead animal, Hays said.

The animal's brain was sent to the Jefferson County Health Department, and then to a lab in Charleston where it tested positive for rabies, the newspaper reported.

While rabies is common in that area, beaver attacks are rare, said Lisa Dunn, the health department's sanitarian supervisor.

AP-ES-07-27-03 1206EDT

[LibKill]

And contrary to what anyone may say, it doesn't taste like chicken.

Everything tastes like chicken. The matrix has us. :)

[Uncle Meat]

The only think worse than a dead skunk on your piano is a diseased beaver on your organ.

[Ditter]

I heard on the radio last week that several rabid animals have been found in the Houston area. Its not unusual, we have lots of wild varmits all over the city, mostly democraps. We have lots of wild animals too.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

"Knowing your father, he's probably out chasing beaver again."

[The_Pickle]

Actually if they can get the animal and preform a rabies scan on it the girl might avoid the series if the animal comes back negative. However in the absence of the anumal for testing I believe the standard procedure is to administer the shots as a preventative measure.

[11B3]

Winner!! ROFLMAO

[Thinkin' Gal]

Looks like the shovel got the last laugh.

[Iscool]

Well June, just leave it to Beaver...

(thought I'd keep it clean)

[Uncle Meat]

That's what Ward told the Beaver when it was his time to teach him about the birds and bees.

[nothingnew]

DAM. Just DAM!

FMCDH

[Robert A Cook PE]

NOW is jealous -

They wanted to attack and eat that hot, rapid beaver first.....

(Ooopsie. Fevered, rabid beaver first.)

[yarddog]

I used to think all those quotes from "Leave it to Beaver" were made up but a few weeks ago I actually heard the one where June said "Ward you were a little hard on the Beaver last night".

BTW LITB was a very good show.

[Zipporah]

I have read about a person developing rabies after being bitten..and being treated with antirabies serum and the person recovered. The doctors treated each symptom as it developed. Took a long recovery.

[4mycountry]

They need one of these:

[yarddog]

A few years ago A boy in Mexico recovered from rabies. If memory is right, they used an oxygen chamber in the treatment.

[Zipporah]

Thanks.. it's been a long while since I read the story.. not sure where it happened.

[Jay D. Dyson]

A beaver is a big fat stinky smelly overgrown rat.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

;)

-Jay

[murdoog]

Can you imagine what this thread would be like if it had been a moose?

[SeaDragon]

(Ooopsie. Fevered, rabid beaver first.)

Fevered = Hot, so they are still in the market..

;-)