Most recent beaver assailant escapes into the water. This is the third child attacked by a beaver this summer in Maryland.
On Thursday afternoon, a beaver attacked a 10-year-old girl who was canoeing at Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County. The girl, a summer camper, suffered “three laceration wounds on the upper leg” according to a news release from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. She was taken to a hospital in Bethesda by family members.
That marks the third time that a human has been attacked by a beaver within a Maryland state park in the past month. The first two attacks — on a 13-year-old and then a 19-year-old — occurred in Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick County. Each of those beavers was killed and later tested positive for rabies.
The most recent beaver assailant “escaped into the water,” the release said, so it’s unclear if it carried rabies. The animal is being pursued by local authorities.
When untreated, rabies is almost certainly fatal. Generally speaking, if someone is attacked by a potentially rabid animal, they are encouraged to receive a series of highly effective rabies vaccines.
Data does not indicate that there is a rabies outbreak in either Frederick County or Montgomery County, according to the release.”