A 13-year-old boy was swimming at a packed Maryland state park when something bit him in the chest.
Maryland DNR said they had it handled.
And a beaver attacked someone else at the exact same park just 10 days later.
Two Attacks, Same Park, Ten Days Apart
The first attack hit Cunningham Falls State Park on July 26.
A swimmer at Hunting Creek Lake started screaming, and the screaming lasted a full minute before anyone understood what was happening.
Witnesses on shore asked each other if it was an alligator.
The boy was airlifted to Johns Hopkins with injuries to his hands and chest – and when police questioned him from his hospital bed, he still wasn't sure what had attacked him.
The beaver was caught, euthanized, and tested positive for rabies the next day.
Maryland DNR closed the swimming area, dismantled a nearby beaver lodge, and set up daily surveillance.
Staff checked the surrounding area for signs of beavers and said they found nothing.
Less than two weeks later, a 19-year-old fisherman was bitten on the ankle at the same park's South Beach Day Use Area.
That beaver tested positive for rabies too.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources then shut down the Houck Day Use Area, the boat ramp, and Big Hunting Creek above the lake.
Swimming, fishing, boating, and all water access are now prohibited until officials declare it safe.
Wildlife crews are running nighttime boat patrols with thermal imaging cameras.
What Maryland DNR Got Wrong
Here's the thing about that ten-day gap.
After the first attack, the DNR declared the area under active surveillance and found nothing.
What they missed was the raccoon.
Maryland – like the entire eastern seaboard – sits in the heart of raccoon rabies territory, and raccoons are the engine that pushes this virus into other animals.
Experts believe both infected beavers at Cunningham Falls likely caught rabies from an encounter with an infected raccoon near the lake.
That means the threat was never a rogue individual beaver.
It was an infected raccoon population living right alongside a park that welcomed more than 455,000 visitors last year.
DNR's response after the first attack – focused entirely on finding more beavers – missed the actual source of the problem.
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Only 21 rabid beavers were confirmed across the entire United States between 2011 and 2020.
Two showing up at the same park within ten days has scientists talking about a formal scientific study – because this doesn't happen unless something in the surrounding wildlife is driving it.
And while Maryland DNR was checking for beavers, the USDA launched its annual oral rabies vaccination campaign targeting raccoon populations across the eastern United States – dropping hundreds of thousands of vaccine baits by airplane and helicopter across New York, Vermont, and Maine.
Cunningham Falls wasn't part of that program.
What You Need to Know Before You Take Your Kids Near Any Water This Summer
Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.
That's the sentence worth reading twice before your next family trip to a lake or state park.
The 13-year-old boy survived because he was airlifted fast and got post-exposure treatment before the virus could progress.
If a wild animal – beaver, raccoon, bat, fox, skunk – approaches you or your child without fear, that animal has something wrong with it.
Beavers don't approach people.
A beaver charging toward a swimmer in daylight, or showing up aggressively at a fishing spot at 9:30 in the morning, is exhibiting a textbook symptom of rabies – the virus strips away fear and replaces it with aggression.
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Watch for excessive salivation, loss of coordination, unusual vocalizations, or any normally nocturnal animal appearing during daylight hours.
If your child is bitten or scratched by any wild animal: get away from the animal, wash the wound immediately with soap and water for ten to fifteen minutes, and go to an emergency room.
Do not try to catch it.
Report it to animal control and let them handle it.
Treatment after exposure is effective.
Treatment after symptoms appear is not.
Cunningham Falls State Park still has open camping and hiking areas – but every water access point near Hunting Creek Lake is shut down until further notice.
Sources:
- Joe Zimmermann, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Fox News Digital, August 17, 2026.
- Perri Ormont Blumberg, "Dangerous rabid beavers attack 2 teens, with 1 airlifted and popular park partially closed," Fox News, August 17, 2026.
- Maryland Department of Natural Resources, "DNR Closes Additional Areas of Cunningham Falls State Park Following Second Beaver Attack," news.maryland.gov, August 5, 2026.
- Hayes Gardner, "After 2 rare rabid beaver attacks, Maryland officials search for more," The Banner, August 14, 2026.
- USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, "USDA Conducts 2026 Oral Rabies Vaccination Efforts Targeting Wildlife in Eastern United States," aphis.usda.gov, July 31, 2026.
- Hareza DA et al., "Rabies in Rodents and Lagomorphs in the USA, 2011–20," Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 2023.