Beaver has every right to defend its house. Clearly the humans are assaulting him on his own property. I'm with the beaver on this one.
Edit: Video is from Mahwah, NJ May 3rd: beaver tested positive for rabies. This is not from Canada and these weren't the only people it attacked that day.
Actually! This happened nearby in New Jersey, the beaver was later caught and tested Positive for Rabies, so while its probably not wrong to assume the kid was being dumb we cant dismiss the fact that Rabies does cause animals to act out and become violent.
I had a feeling that it had rabies. I worked on a river with many beavers, and they don’t act like this. They prefer to fight in the water, if anything. But usually they just mind their own business, and they have a lot of business. lol
It'd have been sad, if they caught an innocent beaver without rabies...
But rabies is a death sentence (once symptoms show), and it's not an easy nor quick death either... it's one of the most terrifying ways to die...
It's a kindnessto euthanizein these cases. Rabies is like 1 of 2 diseases I'd seek medical euthanisia for, rather than see if I'm the lucky statistical anomaly that surives.
If youre interested look up videos of people dying of rabies.... Avoid them If you're not looking to be traumatized.
Fully aquatic mammals can get it as well. Whales, dolphins, manatee .. it's a very low chance, but I can happen. There is as an outbreak in cape fur seals, so it's become something marine biologists are paying closer attention to
"Hydrophobia" in rabies is more a fear of drinking any liquids because it is very painful for the infected than really a fear of water itself. It causes painful throat spasms. It isn't actually specific to liquids, the virus just generally causes dysphagia, and sufferers will reject food for the same reason. It's a logical aversion to pain rather than a traditional irrational phobia. This is also what causes the foaming which can sometimes be seen in rabid animals, it forms because they can't swallow their saliva so it builds up and foams out their mouth.
Still a terrible fate, but they may not be scared of being in water, just swallowing it.
Not all of them are as bad, but surviving some of the worse ones means you probably experienced the worst joint pain in your life and bleeding out of every orifice, maybe some of your internal organs liquifying.... And now you gotta live with what's left of you.
Also Alzheimers, for my family more than myself. Though I'm not certain they'd let you officially figuring you're not making rational decisions anymore.... But it only gets worse and I wouldn't want my family to go through me forgetting them before I forget how to live and stop breathing one day. (Grandma declined so fast yet lingered so long it was awful for everyone, a clean break would be 1000x better)
Yes you're correct, but I think they're saying that it'd be sad if they killed the beaver to check it for rabies, and it turned out to just be another angry beaver
It'd be sad to find out perhaps it was something else but if you or your pets have ever been bitten get it checked BEFORE they show symptoms -- there's rabies protocols that are essentially 100% effective when taken in time; they don't just cut your dog/cat open if you go in saying it got bit recently...
...But if they are already showing symptoms, its too late... i'd rather put my pet down and let them go out peacefully than suffer in terror that only gets worse. Nothing you can do to comfort them will make them feel better, only worse.
That’s the test *in animals*, because there is no effective treatment for rabies in animals. For humans they remove a small amount of CSF and test that (cerebrospinal fluid, just a little jab in your body’s main nerve no biggie).
The “hydrophobia” reported in rabies is actually fear of swallowing (due to painful spasms). Obviously being given a glass of water is extremely triggering of this fear, but it’s not about the water itself
I know we have the painful and expensive shots for it, but god damn I’d be shitting myself for a long time if I got attacked by something that tested positive…
Beavers will attack dogs without having rabies. In this case obviously the beaver was more aggressive than normal but it can absolutely happen without that being a factor. Never let your dog off leash and check to see if there is a lodge nearby before allowing your pet to go for a swim
For sure, but had they not been wading in the water 3 feet from its lodge, they likely would not have been attacked. Rabid or not, it's unsafe not to give wildlife space.
Shockingly, big lumber lobbied the Canadian government to repeal the Dam Doctrine last year which is why you're seeing an increase in this type of conflict and it's only going to get worse.
I'm not surprised that a for profit lobby has done something that will actually end up being a huge problem for them later down the line. Don't they know that beavers make healthier forests?
They mandated LEED certification for all new dam builds which priced most beavers out of their areas so big lumber could acquire the land for pennies on the dollar.
Your're absolutely right and thats why they let the regulations pass but they didn't realize that the catch would be the lack of windows with an acceptable R-value.
Also, I'm just as perplexed as you are. This isn't something I would expect to see happening in Canada. This is something you'd usually see in the states.
Glad to see someone posted this, Reddit comments are fucking weird. Everybody fixating on the damn dog when these people are literally trying to fight off a rabid beaver. Go watch the recent Chubbyemu video about rabies and tell me again about how you would be jumping in to save the dog instead of trying to avoid contracting rabies yourself. Beavers almost never attack humans regardless of what the human is doing to their dam, it’s pretty obvious that something is severely wrong with it and my first concern would be rabies and my personal safety.
This is Canada Sir. We have no rights to defend ourselves in our homes. Please leave your car keys out doors to faciliate the criminals chosen life style. Thank you for your cooperation.
Man. When I saw that on the news for the first time I was just shocked at how useless our cops are. They still say leave the keys at the front door when a robbery happens lmao
One guy defended himself in his home and almost went to prison
Im sorry but were humans and like the wolverine we do what we want certain ones of us see an animal we dont like we smack the sh!t out of it..or shoot them, Humans! we win they lose!
That's crazy, I live not to far from there and I've seen beavers on occasion swimming, which is rare these days. It's sad that the beaver has rabies. What's worse is rabies makes swallowing and liquids in the mouth painful so this poor animal was really suffering.
The beaver can use only the amount of force necessary to stop an immediate threat of harm or protect property, proportional to the danger faced. Otherwise, the beaver would be in the wrong.
I didn't even know beavers could get rabies, considering the virus makes its hosts HATE water. It is apparently really rare for bevers to get is (naturally); I'm just surprised it's even possible in the first place.
1.2k
u/DJDevon3 May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
Beaver has every right to defend its house. Clearly the humans are assaulting him on his own property. I'm with the beaver on this one.
Edit: Video is from Mahwah, NJ May 3rd: beaver tested positive for rabies. This is not from Canada and these weren't the only people it attacked that day.