OSTROMECHEVO, Belarus -- The fisherman wanted his photo shot
with a beaver. The beaver had other ideas: It attacked the 60-year-old
man with razor-sharp teeth, slicing an artery and causing him to bleed
to death.
It was the most serious in a string of beaver attacks on humans in
Belarus, as the rodents have turned increasingly aggressive when
confronted by humans after wandering near homes, shops and schools.
"The character of the wound was totally shocking for us
medical professionals," recalled village doctor Leonty Sulim. "We had
never run into anything like this before."
Once hunted nearly to extinction in Europe, beavers have made a
comeback as hunting was banned or restricted and new populations were
introduced. In Belarus, a former Soviet nation between Russia and
Poland, the beaver population has tripled in the past decade to an
estimated 80,000, according to wildlife experts. That has caused beavers
increasingly to wander into populated areas, creating more grounds for
conflict.
The Belarusian emergency services said that this year, for the first
time, they have received a rash of reports of aggression by beavers,
which can weigh up to 30 kilograms (about 65 pounds) and stand about a
meter (three feet) high. Officials have responded to some calls by
sending out crews to drive away the animals, often by spraying them with
water from a fire-hose.
The fisherman, who has not been named at the request of his family,
was driving with friends toward the Shestakovskoye lake, west of the
capital, Minsk, when he spotted the beaver along the side of the road
and stopped the car. As he tried to grab the animal, it bit him several
times. One of the bites hit a major artery in the leg, according to
Sulim.
The man's friends were unable to stop the blood from spouting, and he
was pronounced dead when he arrived at Sulim's clinic in the village of
Ostromechevo.
He is the only person known to have died from a beaver attack in Belarus.
Wildlife experts attribute the upsurge in attacks partly to spring
bringing about more aggressive behavior in young beavers that are sent
away to stake out their own territory. Largely nocturnal, beavers can
also become disoriented during the daytime and attack out of fear,
according to Viktor Kozlovsky, a wildlife expert.
Kozlovsky said the large beaver population is beginning to cause
significant damage to forests and farms. The Forestry Ministry said it
was encouraging the hunting of beavers, once prized for their fur and
gland secretions, which were used for medicinal purposes. But since
they're such easy targets near dams, says ministry spokesman Alexander
Kozorez, "beaver hunting holds little sporting interest."
"Hunting them is more like work," he said.
