A Maryland family has detailed how their 13-year-old son, Dominick Cebula, was attacked by a four-foot-long rabid beaver in Cunningham Falls State Park on July 26. The boy's chest and hand were severely injured during the unprovoked attack, leading to his airlift to Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment and rabies post-exposure shots. This incident prompted park officials to close swimming access at Hunting Creek Lake after two more attacks by rabid beavers occurred within a month.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-17,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
A 13-year-old boy named Dominick Cebula was attacked by a rabid beaver while swimming in Cunningham Falls State Park in Thurmont, Maryland on July 26, 2025. The incident occurred when the animal suddenly latched onto his chest underwater and bit him again after he managed to pull it off initially. Despite not provoking the attack, Dominick fought back before being airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for treatment. He underwent three surgeries to repair nerve damage caused by the bites and received multiple rabies post-exposure shots. The park temporarily closed water access after this incident due to concerns about additional rabid beavers but reopened on August 24 following confirmation that no further threats existed at the location.
Written for “Beaver Attacks Boy In Maryland Park” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
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question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
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No political leaning scored for article 14861 · logged 2026-09-17
The family of a 13-year-old boy who was viciously attacked by a rabid beaver in Maryland has spoken out about the incident, describing the animal as a massive, four-foot-long adult.
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who → attack → adult
The July 26 incident was the first of three rabid beaver attacks that prompted Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick County to close, according to the family's GoFundMe.
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that → prompt → GoFundMe
The teen was identified as Dominick Cebula by WUSA 9.
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teen → identify → WUSA
Dominick was swimming and looking at fish underwater in a designated area when the beaver suddenly struck his chest and latched onto him, the family said in their online fundraiser.
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family → swim → fundraiser
The family said the unprovoked attack unfolded in front of the boy's mother and younger brother, who watched in horror from the shore.
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who → say → shore
"This 4-foot-long beaver (not a cute little cuddly beaver — this thing was as big as his 8-year-old brother) came out of nowhere from the deep of the lake, beelined straight toward D, and began biting and attacking him," Dominick's aunt, Leigh Cebula, said.
"He did not provoke it, poke it, or mess with it in any way.
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He → come → way
Dad Jeff Cebula told WUSA 9 the beaver began shaking its head and refused to let go.
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beaver → tell → head
"He grabbed its head and a leg, and he tried to get it off of him," Jeff said.
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Jeff → grab → him
"At that point, he kind of felt that it was locked onto him.
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it → feel → him
And then it started shaking its head, kind of like a dog would do.
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dog → start → head
Dominick eventually managed to pull the beaver off his chest and tried to back away with his hands raised, his dad said.
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dad → manage → hands
The beaver then lunged at him again and bit his right hand, prompting Dominick to fight it off a second time.
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beaver → lunge → it
He was promptly airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where doctors began treating his wounds and administering rabies post-exposure treatment.
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doctors → airlift → treatment
He was lifeflighted to Johns Hopkins because the paramedics were worried his lung was punctured.
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lung → lifeflighte → Hopkins
Luckily it wasn't," Dominick's mother, Alishia Cebula, told Fox News Digital.
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mother → tell → Digital
The boy is now recovering well after undergoing surgery earlier this month.
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boy → recover → surgery
"He is doing much better.
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He → do → ?
He just had surgery on 9/4 to repair a severed nerve in his finger," Alishia said.
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Alishia → have → finger
"He had a lot of appointments, especially with the rabies vaccines he had to get.
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he → have → vaccines
"Luckily, we're getting to the end of this traumatic event."
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we → get → event
Leigh added that the incident happened in an area where the family had swum for years and had never spotted beavers before.
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family → add → beavers
After the attack, the beaver was euthanized after testing positive for rabies.
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beaver → euthanize → rabies
Swimming access to Hunting Creek Lake at the park was closed soon afterward.
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access → close → park
The incident marked the first in a series of three attacks at the park.
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incident → mark → park
On Aug. 5, a 19-year-old fisherman was bitten in the ankle by a beaver.
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fisherman → bite → beaver
Less than three weeks later, a 10-year-old girl at Seneca Creek State Park was also attacked while wading with an organized group.
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girl → attack → group
The Aporia
