> The injured fisherman in today’s attack, a 19-year-old male, appeared to have sustained a bite to the ankle and transported himself<p>A disease that propagates itself by making animals want to bite other animals. I suppose rabies is the base phenomenon behind the zombie meme. It's also a good description of a large fraction of social media posts.
The issue there is that the modern Zombie myth of an undead creature that spreads by biting only dates back to 1968.
It's amazing how microorganisms, including that Cordyceps fungus, can "control" macro nervous systems so specifically..
With rabies I'm not sure it is really control in the sense that it makes the host find victims, but rather that your neurons get damaged in a way that causes immense agitation and the biting is almost a reflex to "defend" yourself as you're incapable of processing what is happening.
Kurzgesagt has a video on it - The Deadliest Virus on Earth <a href="https://youtu.be/4u5I8GYB79Y?si=kpoOGGK8YUA-2P5k&t=378" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/4u5I8GYB79Y?si=kpoOGGK8YUA-2P5k&t=378</a> (time coded to 6:18 where it talks about the lack of damage to the brain)<p>Part of it is that after it does its thing in the brain, it then travels to the salivary glands where it can then spread through a bite.
<i>It's also a good description of a large fraction of social media posts.</i><p>Case in point.
I know this is a serious thing, and beavers can seriously maul someone, but this post title/headline still made me laugh. Am I going to hell (well, for that)?
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260806195522/https://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2026/08/05/dnr-closes-additional-areas-of-cunningham-falls-state-park-following-second-beaver-attack/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20260806195522/https://news.mary...</a>
This must be payback for us harvesting their delicious anal glands all those years ago.<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/03/26/293406191/does-beaver-tush-flavor-your-strawberry-shortcake-we-go-myth-busting" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/03/26/293406191/do...</a>
I wonder how was it first discovered how beaver anal glands taste like.
Well ackshually...<p>> Beaver food flavoring doesn't actually come from the animal's anal gland but from another organ next to it, called the castor sac.<p>I still wouldn't try it, myself.
Confirmed rabies positive by the way.
"Beaver attacks on people are rare and are thought to primarily involve rabid animals" - the article
"Beaver Attack" was not on my 2026 Hacker News headline bingo card
My little brother was attacked once in France by a coypu. Needed medical attention. Beavers (we already have coypu) are being re-introduced into the UK, so maybe this sort of thing will increase here.
A møøse once bit my sister.
Never heard the word "coypu" before, turns out it's the same as "nutria".
It was because the beaver was rabid.
> beaver was rabid<p>We don't have rabies in the UK, thankfully, and I don't think my bro got a rabies jab for his French coypu bite. Just naturally grumpy rodents, I guess.
We better hope there aren't cuts to -rabies wild animal vaccines. These have cut down incidents like these in large degree, <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/national-wildlife-programs/rabies?hl=en-US#:~:text=The%20goal%20of%20the%20program%20is%20to,rabies%20vaccination%20(ORV)%20baits%20in%20targeted%20areas." rel="nofollow">https://www.aphis.usda.gov/national-wildlife-programs/rabies...</a> .<p>QUOTE:<p>The National Rabies Management Program was established in recognition of the changing scope of rabies. The goal of the program is to prevent the further spread of wildlife rabies and eventually eliminate terrestrial rabies in the United States through an integrated program that involves the use of oral rabies vaccination targeting wild animals.<p>Since 1995, Wildlife Services (WS) has been working cooperatively with local, State, and Federal governments, universities and other partners to address this public health problem by distributing oral rabies vaccination (ORV) baits in targeted areas. This cooperative program targets the raccoon variant, canine variant in coyotes and a unique variant of gray fox rabies.
surely there is a roland emmerich movie in there somewhere
If a beaver does approach you, what's the best way to defend yourself?
Kicking it? It’s not a mountain lion.
Make like a tree and leaf?
toss a raw tree trunk to distract him, and run in the opposite direction.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynona%27s_Big_Brown_Beaver" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynona%27s_Big_Brown_Beaver</a>
The heat is driving me crazy too.
"403 forbidden". Thank you very much.
<a href="https://youtu.be/YTWqVk03eb0?si=3NW5xcGcqvY1etxM&t=427" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/YTWqVk03eb0?si=3NW5xcGcqvY1etxM&t=427</a>