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A 4-year-old boy was bitten yesterday afternoon by an angry beaver. The incident took place in Tyresö, just outside Stockholm. They boy’s father had just picked him up from preschool, and they were on their way home through the forest when the accident happened. According to the father, the boy was walking on the path picking up pine cones when the beaver suddenly appeared from behind a pine tree. “It was aggressive,” the father told TTN. “Before I could react, it had thrown itself onto my son. I had to hit it several times with my umbrella before it let go.” The boy was bleeding heavily from his legs, hands, and arms and was taken by ambulance to hospital. He received several stitches, but doctors say there were no serious injuries.

Klas Bengtson, a beaver expert at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, says it’s unusual for beavers to attack humans but it does happen. “Beavers look cute but they are wild animals and if you get too close, they can become aggressive,” he explains. “Just a few years ago, a man in Canada died after being bitten in the thigh by a beaver. It severed his femoral artery and he bled to death.”

In consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, the police have now decided that the Tyresö beaver will be captured and relocated to Orsa in Dalarna. However, the people there don’t want it.

“Why should the people of Stockholm send it here”? wonders Jan Paulsen, a local politician in Orsa municipality. “We are not a dumping ground for aggressive animals. We already have our own angry beavers to deal with. Stockholm municipality will have to solve their beaver problems themselves.
The Environmental Protection Agency understands the anger of the Orsa residents but promises the beaver will be released far from inhabited areas. “This will be the best for all parties,” the Agency told TTN.