Scouts stone rabid beaver to death after attack

(CBS/AP) PINE PLAINS, N.Y. - A rabid beaver that attacked a Boy Scout leader swimming in the Delaware River was killed after Scouts in the troop pelted it with rocks.

The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that 51-year-old Normand Brousseau, of Pine Plains, N.Y., was swimming in eastern Pennsylvania on Aug. 2 when a beaver swam through his legs and bit him in the chest.

"I thought it was a giant carp fish," he told the paper.

After initially throwing the animal from his body, it returned to continue the attack, biting Brousseau in the leg, buttocks, arm, hand and torso before he managed to grab it and hold its jaw closed.

Brousseau threw the beaver ashore while Scouts helped him out of the water. After being momentarily stunned, the beaver began attacking a pool noodle.

At that point, the Scouts stepped in to put down the animal.

"We started throwing rocks at it," Nick Hedges, 16, said. "We could see it was still dangerous."

A doctor confirmed the beaver had rabies a day after the attack.

Dutchess County health officials say a rabid beaver attack is unusual.

[meme-stryker]

Glad these boys rose to the occasion and used the weapons-at-hand to avoid further attacks of other innocent people or animals by a rabid animal. Good job and quick thinking, gentlemen.

[AngieMJack]

I have to marvel at the whole idea that so much cry out about the boyscouts and the children who defended thier troop leader. These boys did the right thing and are being condemned for killing an animal that was dying anyway. Amazing we will get all out of sorts for an animal being killed, but allow thousands of innocent babies to be aborted everyday and we are silent. Where is the cry out for those innocent lives. Its a sad day when we will put an animals life above a human being. Whats happening in America???????

[GScully]

I hope the boys got a badge for this. Well worth it.

[peguesplace]

I sincerely hope that commenters like "newster90210" are muckraking just for fun, and aren't as ignorant as their comments seem to indicate... If, indeed they are the dumb*sses they seem, then this country's educational system is a total failure...

[JaylikeBird]

And then the boys were stuck with the dilemma of what to do with a thouroughly stoned beaver.


/sorry, best I could do.

[centralcacoast]

I admit, I'm surprised. I check out the comment sections of some stories to see what others think. Clearly, there is not much thinking going on. I wonder what everyone is so afraid of? This is anonymous, the perfect platform to discuss with others the day's events. Reducing the comment area to juvenile sarcasm (different from adult wit), whining and name calling is really too bad.

[JaylikeBird]

Dude, it's a story about a rabid beaver. You are expecting my dinner with Andre down here?

[js555554]

Guess we need to start looking at regulating rocks, and scouts. We can't have this sort of thing going on in a civilized world. Poor rabid beaver. Trying to live its rabid life when this militaristic bunch of sadists kids take the law into their own hands.

/sarcastic

[rwsmith29456]

Is no beaver safe from these horrors????

[WeHappyFew]

Good on the Scouts. It might be an unfortunate incident in humane treatment of animals but rabies is no joke. I hope to G*d the bite victim is okay.The animal would have suffered worse if lef tto die from the disease.

[dwood2118]

Few of you have ever encountered a rabid animal. When I was a child, I lived on a farm in Northeastern Ohio. We didn't have beavers, but lots of skunks, who also carry rabies. Many animals can carry it, even squirels all though that is rare. The skunks liked to eat our corn. We also had a few cats around, strays, wild and usually not friendly. One had a habit of fighting with skunks, often coming home sprayed and stinky. One day, he came home sick, and tried to attach everything that moved. With six young kids around, my stepdad did the only thing he could do to protect us, he grabbed the nearest thing he could find which was a pitch fork and stabbed the cat to death with it. He told us to look away first. He explained to us that he didn't want to do that, but that the cat would have made all our animals sick, plus it would have killed us too. There was no vacine at that time available. These boys used what was available and kept them at a safe distance. Even with shots, it is no joke. We need to find a way to mass vacinate wildlife to prevent them from getting it. What these boys did was necessary. Even had the animal not had rabies, it was agressive beyond what most beavers are and dangerous to everyone.

[gnimelf1968]

You must be really really old since the first vaccine for rabies for humans was used in July 1885.

[puppyfeet]

gnimelf1968, just brilliant. Better to just kill the rabid animal than having to treat livestock (and children) AFTER a bite, don't you think? Btw, do you get your rabies vaccine boosted annually? (If you're unfamiliar with farm-life, better to just not comment.)

[Bobcobb1950]

A heterosexual fantasy.