Disease experts urge safe animal practices amid ‘unusual’ rabid beaver attacks

by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
August 19, 2026

Despite headline-grabbing stories of rabid animal attacks — including three attacks by beavers, at least two of which were confirmed rabid — public health officials and zoonotic disease experts say there is not any greater risk to public safety this summer compared to previous years.

But they say the increased publicity from those cases is an opportunity to brush up on rabies, how it works and how to protect yourself, your family and your pets — which includes keeping your distance despite the temptation to get a great social media video.

“This is unusual, but it’s not out of character for this disease,” said Meghan Frost Davis, an environmental microbiologist and associate professor with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, of the recent spate of cases. “We’re accustomed to hearing about rabies in raccoons and foxes, we’re less accustomed to hearing about them in beavers.”

So while rabid beavers, bats and other infected animals made news this summer for behaving erratically, the disease itself is operating as it always has.

Rabies is a virus that transmits through the bite of rabid animals and attacks the nervous system of mammals, causing deterioration in the brain.

It’s almost always fatal within 10 days of the onset of symptoms, which includes disorientation, foaming at the mouth and aggression typically associated with rabies.  Infected animals can also appear extremely lethargic, timid and suffer from paralysis.

The Maryland Department of Health reports that there were 226 laboratory-confirmed rabies cases in Maryland in 2025, with 141 cases so far this year.

“Rabies exposures increase during the summer months primarily because both humans and wildlife are significantly more active outdoors, which sharply increases the frequency of unexpected interactions,” state health officials said in an email Tuesday.

Over the last eight years, raccoons made up at least 50-60% of all confirmed rabies cases in a year, according to state data going back to 2018. Other animals commonly confirmed to have had rabies in Maryland are foxes, cats, skunks and even groundhogs.

But a string of beaver attacks have brought new attention to rabies cases this summer.

In late-July, a 13-year-old visiting Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick County was bitten by a beaver while swimming in a designated swimming area, according to county officials. Later that day, county animal controls confirmed that a beaver in that area was infected with rabies. Rabies testing requires the animal to be euthanized.

Two weeks later, a 19-year-old was also attacked by a beaver, bitten on the ankle while fishing near Hunting Creek Lake in Cunningham Falls State Park. That beaver also tested positive for rabies.

And just last week, a 10-year-old in Montgomery County was attacked by a beaver at Seneca Creek State Park. That beaver was not found but is presumed rabid due to the typically docile nature of beavers.

“Every couple years, it seems that we have animals that people are not as accustomed to hearing about as being rabid,” said Alicia Evangelista, an environmental health program manager for Frederick County’s health department. “This year we have these beavers.

“The thing is they’re actually attacking people who are doing nothing to cause them to be attacked, so that catches people’s attention,” she said.

That said, it’s not the first time a rabid beaver was found in Maryland or even in Frederick County. Evangelista noted that there was another case of a rabid beaver in Frederick back in 2009, and state data shows rabid beavers encounters as recently as 2021.

While frightening for those attacked by rabid animals, high-profile cases involving unexpected animals are good for public awareness and could potentially lead to more cases being found.

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health released three alerts for rabid bats in the last few weeks. Rabid bats are more commonly found due to the number of bats in a colony and the tendency of them ending up in people’s homes. Those cases may not warrant public notice, said Tom Burja, zoonotic disease specialist with the Anne Arundel County health department.

10-year-old girl attacked by beaver at Montgomery County park, leading to closure of park

He said the county issued alerts because those rabid bats were found outside, not in a home or building, leading to a greater risk of a pet or child accidently interacting with the rabid bats.

But tracking the severity of rabies in an area can be challenging due to how the virus operates and other variables that effects how the disease plays out, he said.

Animals infected with rabies may go weeks or months without showing symptoms, allowing those critters to travel before the virus reaches the brain, which triggers the symptoms associated with rabies. The size of the infected animal and the location of the bite wound can affect how long it takes from the initial infection before symptoms appear.

“That’s why it’s so hard to contain and deal with,” Burja said.

He added that rabid animals in rural areas may go unreported simply because there are fewer people out in those counties to interact with. Or, the local farmer may end up “taking care of things” and “dispose of wildlife that’s harming them or their pets.”

Anne Arundel County has an oral vaccine program that drops off bait covered in fish paste. When raccoons and other critters bite into the bait, they puncture a packet filled with liquid rabies vaccine.

That said, rabies is all around us all the time and Marylanders should not feel any more concerned about the recent beaver and bat cases than they would be in previous years, Burja said.

“It’s a very old virus that’s been around for a very long time,” he said. “What we’re seeing right now is not that big of a deal.”

Rabies is also one of the few diseases that has an effective vaccine after infection.

“One of the most remarkable things about rabies is that we can give a vaccine after you’re exposed,” Davis with Johns Hopkins said. “This is extremely rare that we can do this, and it’s because the virus moves so slowly through the nerves. The lag time can be months.”

She also urges Marylanders to get their pets vaccinated for rabies and to stay up-to-date with their boosters.

Other prevention methods includes avoiding animals that may be rabid.

Dr. Cheyenne Falat, associate medical director of the Adult Emergency Department at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, says it’s helpful to know the natural behaviors of animals to identify when one is acting out of character.

“Beavers, for instance, are usually very shy animals. When a beaver starts coming at you or towards you or is aggressive, that’s definitely a sign that something’s not right,” she said. “When animals are normally nocturnal, like beavers, they’re mostly active around dusk, night and dawn, if you see them fairly active during the day, that might be another indication that something’s not right.”

She says to report sightings of animals that are not characteristic of expected behaviors to the county health departments or local animal control.

If there is an attack or encounter with a wild animal, Falat stresses the importance of wound care before heading to the emergency room by washing the wound with water and soap for 15 minutes. She then says to seek prompt medical attention to begin the five-shot vaccination series for rabies if needed.

But both wildlife officials and public health experts say that it’s best practice to avoid handling wild animals in the first place, regardless of whether the animal seems rabid. Falat says that social media has blurred the lines for how people should handle or be near wild animals.

“If people are trying to get close to an animal to get a photo or a video … that kind of behavior has slightly altered what is commonsense practices for humans,” she said.

Burja had the same concern with social media leading to reckless animal handling by people who are not knowledgeable about animal behavior.

“I preach. ‘Keep wildlife wild,’” Burja said.

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