A teenage boy was mauled by a rabid beaver while swimming on a family trip to a state park in Maryland.
Dominick Cebula, 13, was left needing multiple surgeries after the bloody attack at Cunningham Falls in Frederick County earlier this summer.
His aunt Leigh Cebula said in a GoFundMe campaign the teenager was underwater when his mother and younger brother spotted the approaching beaver.
The animal, which she described as being 4-foot-long, was not provoked by Dominick but still “beelined” straight towards him. Graphic photos shared on the fundraising page show deep cuts to his chest and both his hands.
“He grabbed its head and a leg, and he tried to get it off of him,” Dominick’s father Jeff Cebula told WUSA9. “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.”
During the struggle, Dominick was eventually able to wrench the rabid animal from his chest.
Leigh says that her nephew was airlifted to Baltimore, amid concerns that he had a punctured lung. She credits his ability to fight off the beaver to him being an “amazing athlete” and “winning wrestler.”
Once at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dominick started receiving post-exposure treatment for rabies. Rabies is fatal in 100 percent of cases if it infects the central nervous system and clinical symptoms appear, the World Health Organization says.
“It’s not just one shot,” his father told WUSA9. “It’s multiple shots around each bite site.”
Jeff, whose family have been visiting the park for 30 years, said his son has needed three surgeries to repair nerve damage caused by the beaver.
Speaking to The Frederick News-Post, Dominick said one of his hands was “messed up” following the July 26 attack.
“I thought they were going to have to amputate my finger because the bite was down to the bone,” he said. The fundraising appeal to help with his recovery has so far raised more than $1,330 towards a $1,500 target.
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources confirmed the beaver tested positive for rabies and it was euthanized a day after the incident. A second rabid beaver attack took place on a 19 year-old at Cunningham Falls on August 5, about two weeks later.
Water access at Hunting Lake Creek and other parts of the park was closed, reopening on August 24 after the department confirmed there was no further evidence of rabid beavers at the location.
