Man killed by beaver - reports

A Belarus man has died after being bit by a beaver while trying to take its photograph, according to reports.

The man was reportedly on a fishing trip Lake Shestakov in Belarus with two friends when they spotted the animal on the side of the road.

As they approached the creature, it is believed that the beaver lunged forward biting its victim in the leg.

The animal severed the man’s main artery rendering attempts by his fishing companions to stem the blood flow futile.

Last year in the US two girls were mauled by a beaver in a lake in Virginia as they swam.

The incident came on the heels of another rabid beaver attack in Fairfax County, in which an 83-year-old woman was bitten as she swam in Lake Barcroft.

Lilian Peterson told WUSA-TV: “The animal jumped on me. He hit me so hard it knocked me over and started chewing on my leg.

“All I wanted was to get rid of the thing and that was it.”

In 2003 in Belarus a farm manager and farmhand were bitten by a rabid beaver as they tried to chase it from a barn. They survived the attack.