Jaws? More like Gnaws.<\/p>\n
Rabid beavers are terrorizing Tri-State vacation hotspots this summer, biting several people across NY and NJ, and sparking fears of an outbreak among locals.<\/p>\n
Indeed, New York\u2019s state animal appears to be chomping more than just wood of late. Recently, two swimmers were attacked by one of the rabid rodents on Turtle Island, Lake George, prompting officials to warn swimmers to steer clear of the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were like, okay, it\u2019s just out for blood,\u201d recalled one of the victims<\/a>, who sustained multiple bites after trying to rip the critter off his friend.<\/p>\n Family friends intervened after an 8-year-old boy was savaged by a rabid beaver while fishing in Mahwah, NJ. Facebook \/ Michael Noonan<\/p>\n While the beaver later turned up dead, it is possible that it \u201cinfected others in the beaver colony at Turtle Island,\u201d reps for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) told The Post.<\/p>\n This followed another incident in May, where a foaming-at-the-mouth furbearer \u2014 which had already bitten several people \u2014 mauled an 8-year-old boy who was fishing with his family in Lake Henry, New Jersey.<\/a> <\/p>\n Thankfully, family friends intervened and catapulted the demonic dam-builder back in the water in a viral video, after which tests confirmed it was indeed suffering from hydrophobia.<\/p>\n But is the Tri-State area experiencing a Zom-beav apocalypse \u2014\u00a0or is the fear overblown? Let\u2019s leave it to beaver experts to explain.<\/p>\n Should we be worried about rabies?<\/p>\n \u201cIf a beaver\u2019s swimming around during the day in, say, a public swimming area where they would not have a lodge or kits nearby, that\u2019s time to get out of the water,\u201d said Beaver expert Skip Lisle. Christian Musat \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Wildlife experts generally disagree that the Empire State is now a chomping ground for rabies-stricken rodents.<\/p>\n In fact, only 40 confirmed rabid beavers were reported from 2002 to 2021<\/a>. Meanwhile, there have been no known transmissions from the Empire State mascot to humans.<\/p>\n Beaver watcher Skip Lisle scoffed at the term \u201coutbreak\u201d to describe the rabid beaver attacks. He runs Beaver Deceivers<\/a>, a company dedicated to protecting infrastructure from rodent-induced flooding sans trapping or killing them.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery now and then, apparently, a beaver will get rabies,\u201d the wildlife biologist told The Post, adding that it\u2019s \u201cextremely, extremely rare in my experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Felix Lankester, a Professor at Washington State University, Paul G. Allen School for Global Health, told The Post that these water-loving woodchippers are \u201ca minor vector compared to raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats, which are the main rabies reservoir species in North America.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cImportantly, beavers tend to be infected incidentally\u00a0rather than sustaining their own separate viral strain,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cSo they are what we call dead-end hosts as there\u2019s no self-sustaining beaver-to-beaver rabies cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n Bite worse than its \u2018bark\u2019<\/p>\n Brandon Shortsleeve recalls being attacked by a rabid beaver in Lake George, NY. WPTZ<\/p>\n However, in the rare event that one of these bark biters strikes, it can hurt like a motherchucker thanks to dental hardware powerful enough to fell a medium-sized tree in a single night.<\/a><\/p>\n Last year, medics at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts<\/a>, documented the case of a man who was attacked by a rabid beaver in Connecticut, sustaining multiple deep lacerations to his arms and chest, as seen in graphic photos.<\/a><\/p>\n In a super rare incident in 2013, a 60-year-old fisherman in Belarus died after trying to pick up a healthy animal for a picture, the Guardian reported.<\/a> Its incisors severed a major artery, causing him to bleed to death.<\/p>\n Lisle noted that non-rabid beavers can also behave aggressively if swimmers venture too close to \u201ca lodge with kits.\u201d<\/p>\n And don\u2019t think about outswimming one of these industrious living buzzsaws. These roly-poly rodents can shred water at up to 6mph <\/a>\u2014 twice as fast as the average human.<\/a><\/p>\n Along with inflicting serious injuries, beaver bites can transmit diseases ranging from leptospirosis to tularemia.<\/p>\n Knock on wood-eater<\/p>\n Beavers can swim twice as fast as a person. Brian Lasenby \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n How does one avoid getting bitten by one of these aquatic \u201cCujos,\u201d which are notably the largest rodents in North America, capable of topping 70 pounds?<\/a><\/p>\n The DEC advised: \u201cBoaters and campers should exercise utmost caution and are advised to avoid contact with beaver (including carcasses) while recreating.\u201d<\/p>\n Lisle advised watching for warning signs of rabies, including beavers out during the day \u2014 they\u2019re primarily nocturnal \u2014 and chasing people on land or in water far from the lodge.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a beaver\u2019s swimming around during the day in, say, a public swimming area where they would not have a lodge or kits nearby, that\u2019s time to get out of the water roughly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Thankfully, attacks by the busy creatures are \u201cextremely rare and pretty easy to avoid if you\u2019re paying attention,\u201d said Lisle.<\/p>\n Unlike with bears and sharks, there isn\u2019t much info on fending off a rabid beaver. In 2018, a man named Dan Wherley\u00a0used a paddle to thwack an infected varmint that was trying to accost him and his daughter while they were kayaking in Pennsylvania, CBS reported.<\/a><\/p>\n When this failed, he resorted to punching, kicking and whaling on the \u201cbig a\u2013 crazy beaver\u201d with rocks, finally managing to dispatch the dogged log-gobbler with a stick.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just glad it didn\u2019t bite either of us,\u201d he said. Anyone bitten or exposed to a suspected rabid animal should seek medical attention ASP so they can administer post-exposure prophylaxis.<\/p>\n A dam shame<\/p>\n Word to the wise \u2014 if you spot a beaver swimming alongside you in a public area, get out of the water quickly. Jillian \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n In general, these buck-toothed mammals have more to fear from people, who hunted the<\/a> North American beaver population nearly to extinction by 1850 to fuel the European fur trade.<\/p>\n \u201cVirtually all the beavers in North America over a two- or 300-year period were killed by the hundreds of millions to make decorative hats for Europeans,\u201d lamented Lisle.<\/p>\n