Rabid beaver attack
 

No truth to the rumor that the animal had to be shaved in order to be identified.

Rabid beaver attacks New York man swimming in Pennsylvania river

Published August 13, 2012
Associated Press

PINE PLAINS, NY – A Boy Scout leader from New York who was attacked by a rabid beaver while swimming in the Delaware River is recovering.

The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that 51-year-old Normand Brousseau, of Pine Plains, was swimming in eastern Pennsylvania on Aug. 2 when a beaver swam through his legs and bit him in the chest.

The animal then bit him in the leg, buttocks, arm, hand and torso before he managed to grab it and hold its jaw closed.

One Boy Scout pulled Brousseau to shore, where he tossed the beaver away from him. The Scouts then used rocks to kill the animal.

A doctor confirmed the beaver had rabies a day after the attack.

Dutchess County health officials say a rabid beaver attack is unusual.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/13...#ixzz23TVPIX1x

My goodness
 

Is there any end to the harm a sick beaver can do to you?

Scary story - beavers are large enough that they can survive to infect people (and other critters).

Make sure you spend some time observing a beaver's behavior before deciding to approach, interact with, handle and/or eat it. It may save you a few shots. ;)

(And as Dusty said - you don't wanna fuck with the hydrophobia.)

Worrisome behavior includes an overly sleepy animal during a normal time of wakefulness, unexplained aggression (especially towards humans), eye/nose discharge, aimless walking and/or loss of coordination (falling over), and partial or complete rear paralysis (which may look like an injured leg).

If you're looking for advice down a different avenue, we should take it to PM, as those talks are not appropriate for general audiences. :D

Ok, who's going to be the one to comment on this? :munchin

I'm not sure if you were being as tongue-in-cheek as I or if your were really curious.

The advice holds true in any case...HTH. ;)

Good deal - I also forgot to mention to avoid beavers with mange (patchy loss of hair and scabby eruptions).

We dont have these in Africa. Are they the ones with the large, fatty tail?

That is them. Also the word beaver is an- apparently American- euphemism for the word vagina.

Hang on for a bit; someone in our government will put together a $5 billion grant to study the problem, and ship a few hundred your way.;).

RF 1

There's really no reason for such an expensive study. Canada, with a large beaver population has done an admirable job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWYt3TccF20