A 13-year-old boy from Frederick County is recovering after being attacked by a rabid beaver while swimming at Cunningham Falls State Park on July 26, an incident his family says was the first of three beaver attacks that led the park to shut down swimming access to Hunting Creek Lake.
The boy, identified by WUSA 9 as Dominick Cebula, was swimming in a designated area and looking at fish underwater when a beaver his family describes as four feet long suddenly struck his chest and latched on. His mother and younger brother watched from the shore as the attack unfolded.
“This 4-foot-long beaver (not a cute little cuddly beaver — this thing was as big as his 8-year-old brother) came out of nowhere from the deep of the lake, beelined straight toward D, and began biting and attacking him,” the boy’s aunt, Leigh Cebula, said in the family’s GoFundMe post. “He did not provoke it, poke it, or mess with it in any way. This was completely unprovoked.”
Dominick’s father, Jeff Cebula, told WUSA 9 the beaver would not release its grip and began shaking its head like a dog. “He grabbed its head and a leg, and he tried to get it off of him,” Jeff said. “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 animal off his chest and tried to back away with his hands raised, according to his father, but the beaver lunged again and bit his right hand, forcing him to fight it off a second time.
He was airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where paramedics were concerned his lung had been punctured. “It was so traumatic. He was lifeflighted to Johns Hopkins because the paramedics were worried his lung was punctured. Luckily it wasn’t,” his mother, Alishia Cebula, told Fox News Digital.
Doctors treated his wounds and began rabies post-exposure treatment. Earlier this month, Dominick underwent surgery to repair a severed nerve in his finger. “He is doing much better. He just had surgery on 9/4 to repair a severed nerve in his finger,” Alishia said. “He had a lot of appointments, especially with the rabies vaccines he had to get. Thank God for the vaccine. Luckily, we’re getting to the end of this traumatic event.”
Leigh Cebula said the family had swum in that part of the lake for years and had never before encountered beavers there. After the attack, the beaver was euthanized and tested positive for rabies, prompting the park to close swimming access to Hunting Creek Lake.
The attack on Dominick was the first of three beaver incidents at Frederick County-area parks this summer. On Aug. 5, a 19-year-old fisherman was bitten in the ankle by a beaver at Cunningham Falls State Park. Less than three weeks later, a 10-year-old girl was attacked by a beaver while wading with an organized group at Seneca Creek State Park.
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