18 comments

  • delichon 4 hours ago
    > The injured fisherman in today’s attack, a 19-year-old male, appeared to have sustained a bite to the ankle and transported himself

    A disease that propagates itself by making animals want to bite other animals. I suppose rabies is the base phenomenon behind the zombie meme. It's also a good description of a large fraction of social media posts.

    • keeda 43 minutes ago
      Not quite zombies, but there is a credible theory that rabies was the inspiration for vampires -- and maybe even werewolves -- since a lot of the symptoms are similar, e.g. transmission through biting (often from dogs and bats, which coincidentally are also animals that vampires can transform into), heightened aggression that includes biting, aversion to bright lights and strong smells like garlic:

      https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321780

    • neaden 1 hour ago
      The issue there is that the modern Zombie myth of an undead creature that spreads by biting only dates back to 1968.
      • delichon 53 minutes ago
        Turns out George Romero took the infectious aspect from the novel I Am Legend (made into Omega Man in 1971), which is a vampire story. He mashed up the European vampire with the Haitian "zonbi".

        Some scholars think that the 18th century rabies epidemics shaped the vampire legend.

        https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1999/04/20/rabies-seen-as-b...

      • onionisafruit 7 minutes ago
        Why does it being from 1968 mean it wasn’t inspired by rabies?
      • atomicnumber3 1 hour ago
        previous iterations were clearly not cool enough of a fantasy to be propagated
        • mwcz 1 hour ago
          I think you just invented epimemetics.
          • jachee 8 minutes ago
            There is no Epimemetic Division.
    • mohamedkoubaa 44 minutes ago
      Actually the American shopping mall, specifically the Monroeville mall near Pittsburgh PA in the 1960 inspired zombie lore
    • Razengan 4 hours ago
      It's amazing how microorganisms, including that Cordyceps fungus, can "control" macro nervous systems so specifically..
      • sva_ 2 hours ago
        With rabies I'm not sure it is really control in the sense that it makes the host find victims, but rather that your neurons get damaged in a way that causes immense agitation and the biting is almost a reflex to "defend" yourself as you're incapable of processing what is happening.
        • shagie 2 hours ago
          Kurzgesagt has a video on it - The Deadliest Virus on Earth https://youtu.be/4u5I8GYB79Y?si=kpoOGGK8YUA-2P5k&t=378 (time coded to 6:18 where it talks about the lack of damage to the brain)

          Part of it is that after it does its thing in the brain, it then travels to the salivary glands where it can then spread through a bite.

    • senordevnyc 4 hours ago
      It's also a good description of a large fraction of social media posts.

      Case in point.

  • duncangh 2 minutes ago
    Didn’t this happen to Jimmy Carter once?
  • bogzz 4 hours ago
    This must be payback for us harvesting their delicious anal glands all those years ago.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/03/26/293406191/do...

    • suslik 3 hours ago
      I wonder how was it first discovered how beaver anal glands taste like.
    • fwipsy 4 hours ago
      Well ackshually...

      > Beaver food flavoring doesn't actually come from the animal's anal gland but from another organ next to it, called the castor sac.

      I still wouldn't try it, myself.

      • bogzz 4 hours ago
        The nuance takes some of the humor out of the notion of eating beaver ass, though. That weighty tail hides a delectable treat.
        • caminante 3 hours ago
          Humor is still there.

          You're eating beaver back sac.

  • peri-cl 5 hours ago
    • binaryturtle 4 hours ago
      Thanks! The original link gave me a 403 only.
      • wolvoleo 3 hours ago
        Yeah seems to be for everyone outside the US
        • gucci-on-fleek 2 hours ago
          The original link works here in Canada at least.
  • adzm 5 hours ago
    Confirmed rabies positive by the way.
    • lenerdenator 3 hours ago
      Good thing he went to the doctor. Potential rabies is one of those "you gotta do it" deals.
      • ChrisMarshallNY 1 hour ago
        I had the rabies vaccinations, when I was a kid. A schoolmate brought infected guinea pigs to school. Dozens of us had to get the shots.

        17 shots: 15 shots, and 2 boosters.

        • edaemon 1 hour ago
          That sounds awful. Thankfully the regimen now is only one shot of HRIG and four doses of the vaccine over two weeks.
  • lithocarpus 5 hours ago
    "Beaver attacks on people are rare and are thought to primarily involve rabid animals" - the article
  • tomcam 5 hours ago
    "Beaver Attack" was not on my 2026 Hacker News headline bingo card
  • zabzonk 3 hours ago
    My little brother was attacked once in France by a coypu. Needed medical attention. Beavers (we already have coypu) are being re-introduced into the UK, so maybe this sort of thing will increase here.
    • knodi123 3 hours ago
      A møøse once bit my sister.
      • WalterBright 1 hour ago
        Mind you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti…
    • throw-the-towel 2 hours ago
      Never heard the word "coypu" before, turns out it's the same as "nutria".
    • sva_ 2 hours ago
      It was because the beaver was rabid.
      • zabzonk 2 hours ago
        > beaver was rabid

        We don't have rabies in the UK, thankfully, and I don't think my bro got a rabies jab for his French coypu bite. Just naturally grumpy rodents, I guess.

  • jambalaya8 1 hour ago
    I know this is a serious thing, and beavers can seriously maul someone, but this post title/headline still made me laugh. Am I going to hell (well, for that)?
    • mh- 19 minutes ago
      I turned my laptop around to show my wife the headline before I even started reading the article, as I immediately laughed as well.
  • nwatson 3 hours ago
    We better hope there aren't cuts to -rabies wild animal vaccines. These have cut down incidents like these in large degree, https://www.aphis.usda.gov/national-wildlife-programs/rabies... .

    QUOTE:

    The National Rabies Management Program was established in recognition of the changing scope of rabies. The goal of the program is to prevent the further spread of wildlife rabies and eventually eliminate terrestrial rabies in the United States through an integrated program that involves the use of oral rabies vaccination targeting wild animals.

    Since 1995, Wildlife Services (WS) has been working cooperatively with local, State, and Federal governments, universities and other partners to address this public health problem by distributing oral rabies vaccination (ORV) baits in targeted areas. This cooperative program targets the raccoon variant, canine variant in coyotes and a unique variant of gray fox rabies.

  • walrus01 4 hours ago
  • mhh__ 2 hours ago
    surely there is a roland emmerich movie in there somewhere
  • cactusplant7374 3 hours ago
    If a beaver does approach you, what's the best way to defend yourself?
    • kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 21 minutes ago
      Assuming you're not otherwise armed, I would say something long and tough to whack, bash, and push (or pin) with, such as a tree branch.
    • Izikiel43 3 hours ago
      Kicking it? It’s not a mountain lion.
      • bryanrasmussen 1 hour ago
        It bit some guy in the ankle. So I'm not sure about moving my leg towards it.
      • cactusplant7374 3 hours ago
        I wonder if a walking stick or trekking pole could be used to bash or stab it. Hard to tell how fast they can move when under the influence of rabies.
    • foobar1962 3 hours ago
      Make like a tree and leaf?
      • dmd 2 hours ago
        Pretending to be a tree is, literally, the worst possible strategy imaginable if you’re trying to avoid being bitten by a beaver.
    • knodi123 3 hours ago
      toss a raw tree trunk to distract him, and run in the opposite direction.
      • mh- 18 minutes ago
        Yes, it's crucial that the tree is uncooked, otherwise it won't work.
  • profsummergig 4 hours ago
    The heat is driving me crazy too.
  • zx8080 3 hours ago
    "403 forbidden". Thank you very much.
  • Fricken 4 hours ago
    • knodi123 3 hours ago
      wow, that was a pretty fast copyright takedown.