(Photo: REUTERS/Mike Blake)Boy Scouts look out from the top of a hillside while camping near Dixon Lake, California April 27, 2012.

A rabid beaver has attacked a Boy Scout leader from New York, who was swimming in the Delaware River.

The attack occurred on Aug. 2, and saw a frenzied attack by the rabid beaver on the scout leader, who survived and is now recovering.

The 51 year old scout leader, Normand Brousseau, from Pine Plains, New York was swimming in the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania when he reported that a beaver swam through his legs before biting him on his chest, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.

That was just the start of the ferocious attack, as the beaver then proceeded to bite him on his legs, buttocks, hand, arm and torso. It took Brousseau a while to grab the beaver and get him under control by taking hold of the mammal and clamping its mouth shut.

Another Boy Scout came to the rescue, dragging the scout leader from the river to shore, where Brousseau threw the beaver away from himself. The scout group, afraid of a renewed attack, then grouped together to attack the beaver with rocks. They eventually killed the beaver.

The scout leader was taken to hospital where a day later the doctors confirmed that the beaver had rabies.

Normand Brousseau has been treated for the bites and is now recovering. He is expected to make a full recovery to health.

Meanwhile Dutchess County health officials have come forward to explain that rabid beaver attacks are very unusual and not common in the area.