These are headlines you just can’t make up. Betsy Bent, a 67-year-old paddler who has been plying the waters of Beaver Lake near Asheville, North Carolina for 20 years, says an actual beaver knocked her off her paddleboard there last week, biting and scratching her multiple times before finally relenting.
“I saw a big splash, but I didn’t see what the splash was from,” said Bent of the fiery little creature that sounded as if it were possessed. Authorities captured it and are testing it for rabies. “It came up under my board and knocked my board over, and then it latched onto my leg and wouldn’t let go. I didn’t know what it was at that time. I didn’t think there was any ‘Jaws’ in Beaver Lake.”
But there are, apparently, killer beavers hiding within its waters. A fisherman, who played the part of Good Samaritan, finally had to beat the crazy animal off with a paddle. The beaver–which, in case you need to be reminded, sports ginormous teeth for chewing on the trunks of trees–caused several deep lacerations in Bent’s arm that had to be stapled shut after she was transported to nearby Mission Hospital. She also began her rabies treatment (she reportedly was not foaming at the mouth yet), which is administered in a series of shots.
Rabies is unusual in beavers–it’s usually found in bats, raccoons, foxes and skunks. Attacks are also rare, even though they have happened in North Carolina before, according to local authorities. No word on whether she was paddling a board with bamboo-inlay, which may or may not have attracted the beaver with its succulent-looking rails in the first place. I can’t tell the difference either.
