Nobody goes to a New Jersey lake expecting to be hunted. And yet.

A day at the lake turned into something out of a nature documentary gone wrong when a rabid beaver launched a series of attacks on swimmers and beach goers at a New Jersey lake, sending an 8-year-old boy to hospital after biting him on the leg. Witnesses filmed the incident on their phones — partly in disbelief, partly because there was genuinely nothing else to do when a large, apparently furious rodent is charging at people in the shallows.

The attack took place at Lake Henry, located within Continental Soldiers Park in Mahwah, Bergen County. Local health officials have confirmed that the beaver tested positive for rabies and are urging anyone who may have had contact with wildlife in that specific area to seek medical evaluation immediately.

In the footage that circulated online, bystanders can be heard reacting with understandable alarm as the animal — described by witnesses as massive — moves through the water toward groups of people. The general consensus among those filming was that this was not normal beaver behavior. That assessment was correct. Normal beavers are shy, nocturnal, and deeply uninterested in human beings. A beaver that is charging people in broad daylight at a public lake has, with near certainty, lost the plot — and in wildlife terms, that usually means one thing: rabies.

Normal beavers are shy, nocturnal, and deeply uninterested in human beings. This one was none of those things.

The 8-year-old victim, whose name has not been released, was bitten on the leg and taken to hospital. His current condition has not been publicly confirmed, but the key concern in any rabid animal bite is the post-exposure treatment window — a series of shots that are highly effective when administered promptly, and significantly less so when delayed. Wildlife officials have confirmed the animal is being tested for rabies. Given the behavior described, few experts are expecting a surprise result.

Here’s the thing about beavers that most people don’t know until a day like this one: they are not small. North American beavers are the largest rodent on the continent, regularly reaching 60 pounds and occasionally exceeding it. Their front teeth — the famous orange incisors — are built to cut through hardwood. They are not, anatomically speaking, something you want to be bitten by in a lake. The child who was attacked was fortunate the injury wasn’t worse.