Jeremy McNaughton won’t quickly forget his encounter with a rogue beaver that attacked him off the shores of Nova Scotia.
The 23-year-old Halifax man was snorkelling in Spanish Ship Bay, near Sherbrooke, with a couple of friends, when one of them looked down and noticed an animal of generous proportions with reddish-brown fur following them.
“I thought it must be a seal,” said Paul Skerry, who was in the water with McNaughton, due to the sheer size of the creature, which he estimates weighed nearly 50 pounds.
Never suspecting its true identity, considering beavers live exclusively in freshwater, Skerry couldn’t make sense of what the animal was until it approached him.
“I quickly realized it could only be a beaver,” once he recognized the animal’s markings, including buck teeth and a distinctly paddle-shaped tail, he said.
The beaver approached Skerry, who said it seemed intent on attacking him.
“He was swimming much too close to me, and seemed to be zeroing in for a bite,” he said. “So I pushed him away with my flippers.”
The beaver obliged, and took up Mr. McNaughton as his victim. It pushed past Skerry, launched itself at McNaughton and sunk its teeth into him, ultimately gouging a 2-inch cavity into McNaughton’s thigh.
Initially unaware of the attack, and believing the beaver had only charged him, McNaughton realized the extent of the damage when blood began to surface.
“I looked into the water and saw all the blood,” Skerry said, recalling that McNaughton’s leg began to swell up. “I realized that this wasn’t a joke and we had to get Jeremy to a hospital.”
McNaughton was treated with stitches, a pre-emptive round of rabies vaccine and a tetanus shot. The bite warranted a five-round treatment of a rabies vaccine, which McNaughton is currently completing.
Vicious beaver attacks Halifax snorkeler off Nova Scotia’s coast | National Post
The 23-year-old Halifax man was snorkelling in Spanish Ship Bay, near Sherbrooke, with a couple of friends, when one of them looked down and noticed an animal of generous proportions with reddish-brown fur following them.
“I thought it must be a seal,” said Paul Skerry, who was in the water with McNaughton, due to the sheer size of the creature, which he estimates weighed nearly 50 pounds.
Never suspecting its true identity, considering beavers live exclusively in freshwater, Skerry couldn’t make sense of what the animal was until it approached him.
“I quickly realized it could only be a beaver,” once he recognized the animal’s markings, including buck teeth and a distinctly paddle-shaped tail, he said.
The beaver approached Skerry, who said it seemed intent on attacking him.
“He was swimming much too close to me, and seemed to be zeroing in for a bite,” he said. “So I pushed him away with my flippers.”
The beaver obliged, and took up Mr. McNaughton as his victim. It pushed past Skerry, launched itself at McNaughton and sunk its teeth into him, ultimately gouging a 2-inch cavity into McNaughton’s thigh.
Initially unaware of the attack, and believing the beaver had only charged him, McNaughton realized the extent of the damage when blood began to surface.
“I looked into the water and saw all the blood,” Skerry said, recalling that McNaughton’s leg began to swell up. “I realized that this wasn’t a joke and we had to get Jeremy to a hospital.”
McNaughton was treated with stitches, a pre-emptive round of rabies vaccine and a tetanus shot. The bite warranted a five-round treatment of a rabies vaccine, which McNaughton is currently completing.
Vicious beaver attacks Halifax snorkeler off Nova Scotia’s coast | National Post
