A 13-year-old Maryland boy is reported to be recovering from multiple surgeries and nerve damage after being attacked by a rabid beaver.
The teen, Dominick Cebula, was swimming at a popular spot in Cunningham Falls state park in Thurmont, Maryland, on 26 July when a beaver attacked his chest underwater, a relatively rare kind of encounter that more recently has been recurring, according to reporting from local news outlets.
Speaking to the news outlet WUSA, Dominick’s father, Jeff Cebula, said: “He grabbed its head and a leg and he tried to get it off of him … At that point, he kind of felt that it was locked onto him. And then it started shaking its head, kind of like a dog would do.”
Jeff Cebula said his son pulled the beaver off his chest but as he backed away, the animal attacked again, biting him on the right hand, WUSA reported.
Dominick fought off the beaver before being airlifted to Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, where he underwent three surgeries on his chest and hands to repair nerve damage. He was also given a rabies post-exposure shot, with his father saying: “It’s not just one shot … It’s multiple shots around each bite site.”
WUSA reported that the beaver was later confirmed to have rabies after being caught and euthanized.
Multiple other beaver attacks have occurred in Maryland. On 5 August, a rabid beaver allegedly attacked the leg of a 19-year-old fisher at Cunningham Falls state park before being caught and euthanized.
And a few days later, a 10-year-old girl endured a beaver attack while canoeing at Maryland’s Seneca Creek state park, CBS News reported.
On 6 August, the Maryland department of natural resources (DNR) announced that it was investigating a potential rabies outbreak in Cunningham Falls state park. Actions in response to that possible outbreak included “dismantling a nearby beaver lodge and establishing daily surveillance at the lake for other beavers using DNR staff and a wildlife damage control cooperator”.
The Maryland DNR said its wildlife and heritage service would “institute night-time monitoring at the lake along with daytime surveillance to remove additional beavers, if any are present”.
Although beavers are typically non-aggressive and avoid conflict with humans, people should still maintain a minimum safe viewing distance of 25 yards, the Maryland DNR advised.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that the agency from July through August had received 17% more rabies-related inquiries than during the same period in 2025 – including reports of mass exposure events that involve more than one person.
Rabies is a zoonotic viral disease with a near 100% fatality rate once symptoms develop. However, it is preventable when post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is administered appropriately.
PEP consists of a series of shots given promptly after potential exposure to the rabies virus Lyssavirus rabies and before symptoms begin.
Common symptoms of rabies include anxiety, insomnia, hydrophobia, hypersalivation, fever and headaches.
