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

[Drew68]

I bet you never thought you'd see an old school Freeper post a graphic of a shaved beaver, and get away with it.

How about a bald pussy?

[hellinahandcart]

I bet you never thought you'd see an old school Freeper post a graphic of a shaved beaver, and get away with it.

Only an old-schooler WOULD get away with it. :D

[Petronski]

Are you trying to shoot rum and Sprite through my nose?

[hellinahandcart]

How can a little girl bitten by a rabid animal be so funny? I'm not sure I can explain it.

Black humor.

My dad came home from work once with a sad tale to tell about one of his long-time colleagues, who'd been hit by lightning that day on the golf course:

The storm blew up suddenly. He and his golf partner immediately decided to hop in the golf cart and call it a day. The lightning struck just before they reached the clubhouse. Apparently it entered through the top of the man's head and traveled straight down into the seat of the golf cart, because it blew his shorts off. Fortunately he lived through it, and had been taken to the emergency room to be checked out..

My mother and I started losing our composure at "the lightning blew his shorts off" and were laughing uncontrollably before he finished. Dad remonstrating with "This isn't funny, that could have been ME, you know" only made us laugh harder. We could both picture him staggering away from the golf cart, with his shorts smoking in front and missing in back.

[hellinahandcart]

I am almost afraid to call you here.

[sauropod]

Well heck, that's nothing new. I've been attacked by rabid beavers many times.

Usually in ecstacy ;-).

[petuniasevan]

A rabid beaver? Yikes! Hope the girl regains full use of her hand!

About 12 years ago (in northern California) I was on the back porch when a jackrabbit erratically hopped towards me from a field. I watched the jack as it came closer and closer. For those of you who don't know, jackrabbits are normally shy creatures. I started getting edgy, so I reached in the door and grabbed the pellet gun. I didn't want to be in Jimmy Carter's boat (snicker) so I popped the jackrabbit. It kept approaching. I repumped and popped it again. Down it went.

It was definitely rabid.

[Drew68]

Are you trying to shoot rum and Sprite through my nose?

I was trying to find a photo of that type of cat in a bathtub so that I could post a pic of bald, wet pussy.

[sugar_puddin]

I've been attacked by a few rabid beavers as well.

You are so bad. lol

[boris]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT's sophomores have made over the Brass Rat in their own image. The 1,078 members of the class of 2002 -- the first to purchase Brass Rat graduation rings in the 21st century -- have adopted up-to-date symbols in the ring's design that celebrate their life on campus. The bearded scholar in MIT's traditional mens et manus seal has been replaced by a woman holding a laptop computer instead of a book. Women make up 43 percent of the class and 41 percent of MIT's student body. The blacksmith's hammer is now a picket sign, "just as many students have put down their books to stand up for their beliefs," the ring brochure explains. The podium still holds the traditional stack of books, but the lamp of knowledge has been redesigned. It now depicts the 1999 hack of MIT's great dome made up as R2D2, the robot in Star Wars, celebrating "one of the greatest unofficial traditions of MIT." One symbol survives: the traditional beaver, known as "nature's engineer," adorns the centerpiece of the design, thus the Brass Rat.

[Jaxter]

This looks like a job for...

[mattdono]

Nice Beaver!

[MissAmericanPie]

I wonder why things like this don't happen to the people that deserve it like, "Back to Nature Boy", Al Gore.

He would be devastated to know that "Gia" was out to get him.

[boris]

He would be devastated to know that "Gia" was out to get him.

I think "Gia" was a supermodel. I think you mean "Gaia".

[Richard Kimball]

June Cleaver is hot.

[Tall_Texan]

I've always thought so.

[presidio9]

Rabies is never funny.

[steveo]

My "no comment" was exactly that. There was no smiley face no wink icon after my "no comment". Nor have I replied to ANYONE that posted any attempt at humor. If you have complaints about any posts feel free to hit the abuse button, but don't blame me for the comments of others just because I posted a news story.

[MissAmericanPie]

I'm sure they are both out to get him.

[shotgun]

Stuffed Beaver