Maryland teen undergoes three surgeries after rabid beaver attack at state park

Three beaver attacks prompt Maryland rabies investigation

Thirteen-year-old Dominick Cebula was swimming at a popular spot in Cunningham Falls State Park in Thurmont, Maryland, on July 26 when a beaver attacked his chest underwater. His father Jeff Cebula described the struggle to local news outlet WUSA: “He grabbed its head and a leg and he tried to get it off of him … 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.”

Dominick managed to pull the beaver from his chest, his father said, but as he backed away, the animal attacked a second time, biting his right hand, WUSA reported.

Dominick was airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he underwent three surgeries on his chest and hands to repair nerve damage. He also received a series of rabies post-exposure shots. “It’s not just one shot … It’s multiple shots around each bite site,” Jeff Cebula told WUSA.

The beaver was later caught and euthanized, and confirmed to have rabies, WUSA reported.

The Cunningham Falls attack was followed on August 5 by a separate incident in which a rabid beaver allegedly bit a 19-year-old fisher on the leg at the same park; that animal was also caught and euthanized. A few days later, a beaver attacked a 10-year-old girl while she canoed at Maryland’s Seneca Creek State Park, CBS News reported.

On August 6, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced it was investigating a potential rabies outbreak in the beaver population at Cunningham Falls. The agency said its response had included “dismantling a nearby beaver lodge and establishing daily surveillance at the lake for other beavers using DNR staff and a wildlife damage control cooperator.” The Maryland DNR’s wildlife and heritage service would also “institute night-time monitoring at the lake along with daytime surveillance to remove additional beavers, if any are present.”

Although beavers are typically non-aggressive and avoid conflict with humans, the Maryland DNR advised the public to maintain a minimum safe viewing distance of 25 yards.

The incidents come against a broader backdrop of increased rabies reporting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it received 17% more rabies-related inquiries from July through August than during the same period in 2025, including reports of mass exposure events involving more than one person.

Rabies is a zoonotic viral disease with a near-100% fatality rate once symptoms develop, but it is preventable when post-exposure prophylaxis, known as PEP, is administered promptly. PEP consists of a series of shots given after potential exposure to the rabies virus Lyssavirus rabies and before symptoms begin. Common symptoms of rabies include anxiety, insomnia, hydrophobia, hypersalivation, fever, and headaches.