14 DAY TRIAL // Officials in Belarus report aggressive attacks on humans by beavers in recent months. The nocturnal animals are reportedly dangerous, as they are disoriented during the day.
Younger beavers are more likely to charge humans, Digital Journal informs. Beavers can weigh up to 65 pounds (29.5 kg) and measure 3 feet (91.5 cm), the same publication notes.
Last month, a man has died in Belarus following a rare and unlikely fatal beaver attack. The unidentified 60-year-old victim was a former member of the army.
According to The Telegraph, the fisherman died in the Shestakovskoye Lake area. Sky News added that the man from Brest was trying to snap a photograph of the beaver when it launched itself on him.
"A beaver is a wild animal, after all," says Sergei Shtyk, the deputy head of the wildlife inspectorate in the region.
Officials cite lack of caution in approaching the beaver as the catalyst for the incident. The attack took place during daytime, with the beaver biting the man's thigh.
"It was early morning and already light when they saw a beaver by the road, which was unusual because beavers are nocturnal.
"One of them went up to be photographed with it, and the animal attacked him and bit him twice, cutting an artery in his thigh, before running away," Shtyk states.
The man was accompanied by a group of friends who alerted medical emergency operators and stepped in to try to stop the bleeding.
"The man's friends tried to bandage him and find a doctor in a nearby village but he died from blood loss before help arrived," Shtyk adds.
This is the first fatal incident of this type ever recorded in the region.
"People have lost fingers -- that's the worst I've come across. The beaver is not normally aggressive, but it does have big teeth and immensely powerful jaws; it can cut down a tree three feet wide," notes Sergei Shilinchuk, deputy head of the environmental protection committee in Brest.
Shilinchuk describes that an increasing number of beavers have been spotted in the area, almost twice as many as there were five years ago.
"We're making efforts to stimulate commercial use of beaver meat but that hasn't taken off yet," he explains.
[Update, May 30 2013]: A previous version of this article omitted the fact that the beaver attack in question has been reported last month. With the help of our users, the error has been corrected.