SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) - “I've never had a fear of lakes. I've never been afraid of anything in the lake,” said Wendy Radnovich.
That changed for Wendy when her two little girls, Alyssa and Bella were bitten by a rabid beaver.
“I was just picturing the worst. I was thinking large, they have big teeth. I know they can chew through wood,” she said.
Radnovich said the beaver attacked the girls Sunday when the children were vacationing with their father at Lake Anna in Louisa County. Both girls were in waist deep in the water when the rabid beaver appeared, she said.
“We were all playing in the water, and so it just sneaked up on me and bit me,” said 11-year-old Alyssa.
She said the animal latched on to her upper thigh, and left a three-inch bite wound.
Then the beaver bit 8-year-old Bella's leg -- three times.
Radnovich said her ex-brother in law shot beaver with a pellet gun, then killed it with a knife.
“This is definitely the worst thing they've ever been through,” she said.
Bella said she won't ever swim in a lake again.
“Because I don’t' know if there could be another beaver or another crazy animal in the water,” she said.
Since the attack girls have had one round of rabies shots. There are four more rounds of rabies shots to go.
“I used to think they [beavers] were cute little funny things, but now I don't like them at all,” Bella said.
