Overview
- A 10-year-old girl was bitten while at a summer camp swim area in Seneca Creek State Park on Aug. 13 and was taken to a Bethesda hospital for treatment for lacerations to her upper leg.
- Two earlier attacks at Cunningham Falls State Park injured a 13-year-old swimmer on July 26 who was airlifted to Johns Hopkins and a 19-year-old fisherman on Aug. 5; the beavers from both Cunningham Falls incidents tested positive for rabies.
- The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has closed affected day‑use areas, dismantled a nearby lodge after the first attack, set traps and is using nighttime thermal imaging to search for additional beavers including the animal linked to the Seneca Creek bite.
- State and local health officials say the Seneca Creek incident appears geographically and behaviorally separate from the Cunningham Falls cases and that there is no sign of a wider county-level rabies outbreak, while urging immediate wound washing and medical evaluation for anyone exposed.
- Beaver attacks on people are rare in Maryland, officials note, but the incidents have prompted longer-term effects such as tightened park access, increased wildlife monitoring and advice for visitors to keep at least 25 yards from wild beavers and report any contact.