Exclusive | Are rabid beavers on a rampage in New York? Experts weigh in

Jaws? More like Gnaws.Rabid beavers are terrorizing Tri-State vacation hotspots this summer, biting several people across NY and NJ, and sparking fears of an outbreak among locals.Indeed, New York’s state animal appears to be chomping more than just wood of late.Recently, two swimmers were attacked by one of the rabid rodents on Turtle Island, Lake George, prompting officials to warn swimmers to steer clear of the area.“We were like, okay, it’s just out for blood,” recalled one of the victims, who sustained multiple bites after trying to rip the critter off his friend.While the beaver later turned up dead, it is possible that it “infected others in the beaver colony at Turtle Island,” reps for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) told The Post.This followed another incident in May, where a foaming-at-the-mouth furbearer — which had already bitten several people — mauled an 8-year-old boy who was fishing with his family in Lake Henry, New Jersey.

Thankfully, family friends intervened and catapulted the demonic dam-builder back in the water in a viral video, after which tests confirmed it was indeed suffering from hydrophobia.But is the Tri-State area experiencing a Zom-beav apocalypse — or is the fear overblown? Let’s leave it to beaver experts to explain.Wildlife experts generally disagree that the Empire State is now a chomping ground for rabies-stricken rodents.In fact, only 40 confirmed rabid beavers were reported from 2002 to 2021.Meanwhile, there have been no known transmissions from the Empire State mascot to humans.Beaver watcher Skip Lisle scoffed at the term “outbreak” to describe the rabid beaver attacks.

He runs Beaver Deceivers, a company dedicated to protecting infrastructure from rodent-induced flooding sans trapping or killing them.“Every now and then, apparently, a beaver will get rabies,” the wildlife biologist told The Post, adding that it’s “extremely, extremely rare in my experience....