Rabid beaver attacks swimmer in Hatfield as fox in Northampton also confirmed rabid

Two cases of rabid animals were confirmed in the Northampton area this past week, with one attacking a person.

A rabid beaver attacked a man swimming in the Connecticut River on Sunday evening, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Two days earlier, a group of good Samaritans guided a young fox out of traffic in Northampton near Smith College, Northampton Animal Control said. On Wednesday, the animal control officials confirmed that the animal was rabid, and said they were in the process of contacting people with known exposure.

Hatfield police told the Gazette that police were called to a boat ramp around 6:45 p.m. on Sunday to help an injured man who told police he was swimming when he was attacked by a beaver.

The Hatfield Police Department did not immediately return a call requesting information.

The man, who was not identified, was taken to Baystate Medical Center where he received the start of a course of rabies treatments, according to the Gazette. Officials confirmed Wednesday that the beaver had tested positive for rabies, the newspaper wrote.

“This is the time of year when we start seeing cases of rabies,” Hatfield Board of Health Chairman Robert Osley told the Gazette. “If you see any animal acting strangely, stay away and call the authorities.”

This wasn’t the first time a swim in the area led to a brush with an angry beaver. Mark “Pres” Pieraccini suffered extensive injuries in a September 2021 beaver attack while he was swimming in a remote Franklin County pond and nearly drowned, the Republican previously reported.

• Read more: Lucky to be alive: 73-year-old Greenfield man mauled by beaver

Pieraccini, who was 73 at the time, had multiple puncture wounds, flesh torn from an arm and a leg, scratches and lacerations all over his body and scalp, and a torn tendon on one of his fingers. He also fractured a knuckle on one hand, most likely from punching the beaver as it repeatedly attacked him.

In an interview with the Republican, Pieraccini said he fought off the animal for five minutes before turning around and swimming to shore, the beaver biting him all the way back.

“At some point, I said to myself, ‘If I stop and fight him one more time, I’m going to drown,’” he said at the time.