A Maryland teen is recovering after what his family describes as a startlingly large beaver came out of deep water and repeatedly mauled him at a popular state park. Dominick Cebula's family says the 13-year-old was swimming in a roped-off area of Cunningham Falls State Park on July 26 when the animal swam straight at him, clamped onto his chest, and shook its head "like a dog," Fox News reports.
- "His mom and younger brother were on shore when they watched in horror as this 4-foot-long beaver (not a cute little cuddly beaver—this thing was as big as his 8 year old brother) came out of nowhere from the deep of the lake, beelined straight toward D, and began biting and attacking him," his aunt, Leigh Cebula, says on a GoFundMe page.
Dominick tore the beaver off, only to be bitten on the hand when it lunged again, his family says. He was airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital amid fears of a punctured lung and has since undergone multiple surgeries to treat wounds to his hand and chest and to repair severe nerve damage in a finger, WUSA9 reports. He also had to have multiple rabies shots. The beaver tested positive for rabies and was euthanized. Father Jeff Cebula says Dominick is still healing, but he was able to start his freshman year of high school with a story to tell. "He was pretty popular the first day of school," he says.
The attack was the first of three beaver attacks in Maryland this summer, the Guardian reports. Another rabid beaver was euthanized after it bit the leg of a 19-year-old fisherman at Cunningham Falls on Aug 6. Almost three weeks later, a 10-year-old girl was bitten on the ankle while canoeing at Seneca Creek State Park, around 35 miles away from Cunningham Falls. After the Cunningham Falls attacks, the state Department of Natural Resources said it was "dismantling a nearby beaver lodge and establishing daily surveillance at the lake for other beavers using DNR staff and a wildlife damage control cooperator."
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