I thought this might be a joke when I saw the headline but it wasn’t. There are lots of beavers in the Boundary Waters and on the Gunflint Trail. They swim around, flap their tails and generally disappear quite quickly when approached.   I can honestly say I’ve never been afraid of a beaver. Maybe I should be?

Fisherman killed by a beaver while trying to take a photo

6:01 AM, Apr 16, 2013

LAKE SHESTAKOV, Belarus – A fisherman in Belarus was bitten to death by a beaver, and all he was doing was trying to take its picture, Sky News reports.

The man spotted the beaver while fishing with friends at Lake Shestakov, but as he approached to take a photograph, the beaver bit him on the thigh. The animal managed to sever an artery, and his friends couldn’t stop the blood flow.

Sky News helpfully reminds us that beavers can, of course, bite through trees. Beaver attacks are rare, though, and when they do occur, rabid beavers are generally to blame (as in the 2012 attack in upstate New York).

But just this week, a video was posted on YouTube showing a beaver going after a Russian man, reports the Telegraph, and two girls were seriously injured after being mauled by a beaver in Virginia last year.

AP Press