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A Summit woman said the animal that attacked her and her husband last week at Lake Surprise was a beaver, like the one seen in this file photo.
Beware the mad beaver of Lake Surprise.

Karen and Barry Rubinstein were enjoying a stroll by the picturesque lake, nestled in Union County's Watchung Reservation, last Tuesday when they noticed a head popping out of the water.

The creature spotted the Rubinsteins and set its sights on the shoreline.

"It's bee-lining, I mean, this thing is swimming right at us," Karen Rubinstein said.

The animal, which she estimated weighed as much as 40 pounds, came flopping out of the water, its teeth bared and its webbed feet moving as fast as they could manage.

The couple, who live in Summit, started running toward their car when a jogger warned them the animal could get hurt if it chased them into the road.

Karen Rubinstein jumped onto a nearby bench and saw her husband cut back toward the lake when the animal suddenly lunged, missing him by inches. After almost chomping Barry's leg, it scurried back into the water.

"I was thinking, if we had a dog or a little child with us, who knows what could have happened," she said.

But Daniel Bernier, the county's director of parks planning, said there were no known beavers living in Union County.

And last week a wildlife specialist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture who was at the lake spotted evidence of otters, which she said resembled beavers.

In addition, she said there was no evidence of gnawed trees or beaver lodges, although it was possible one could have strayed from Morris County.

Still, Karen Rubinstein, who studied forestry at Rutgers University for several years, insisted the creature she saw was a beaver based on its feet, its tail and its size.

"There's no other animal it could be, unless it was an alien invasion," she said.

Bernier, with the sensitivity of a diplomat, took Karen Rubinstein at her word.

"We aren't saying she's wrong, and she's not just the average armchair naturalist," he said. "Based on her description you'd certainly say it sounds like a beaver."

But he added: "We just don't have enough evidence to verify what she saw. What we will say is that the public should be aware that wildlife is great to watch, but don't ever get too close."

If there's good news to come from the ordeal, it's that park officials have ruled out that the animal was rabid.

"Especially this time of year, you have animals on a nest with young and they'll be very protective," Bernier said. "Maybe there was some young nearby, or maybe it was just feeling threatened."

Lake Surprise will be drained this summer as part of a continuing dam project, and officials said they hoped that would help unravel the mystery of last week's incident.

Beaver attacks are rare, but not unheard of.

Last year, a beaver killed a fisherman in Belarus, and in 2012 there were at least four beaver attacks reported, including one involving a Boy Scout leader swimming in the Delaware River.

On Sunday, Karen Rubinstein returned to the lake with her mother to show her where the madness had unfolded days earlier.

"I guess that's the surprise of Lake Surprise," her mother said. "A killer beaver."