BEND, OR -- Two men were injured when they were attacked by a beaver near Lava Island Falls, Thursday evening. Deschutes County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a water rescue on the Deschutes River, just before 7 p.m. 
 
 Clayton Mitchell of Bend reported that his 31-year-old friend was trapped in submerged logs. John Bailey, of Redmond, was able to free himself and climb out of the water, just as first responders arrived. 
 
 Investigators say the two men were exploring the river near Lava Island Falls when they climbed into a beaver dam and were attacked by the animal protecting its home. Mitchell and Bailey were evaluated by medics and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. ||||| PORTLAND, Ore. Two Oregon hikers who were assaulted by a beaver after they climbed onto its dam have been hospitalized for injuries incurred during the rare attack, law enforcement officials said on Friday. 
 
 Clayton Mitchell, 23, told the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office that he and a friend had been hiking along a river near his central Oregon home on Thursday when they climbed onto a beaver dam. 
 
 A resident beaver emerged from the dam, knocking Mitchell into the Deschutes River and trapping his friend, 31-year-old John Bailey, in a tangle of submerged logs, according to the sheriff's department incident report. 
 
 After Miller contacted the sheriff’s department for help, deputies called upon search and rescue volunteers to locate Bailey. 
 
 Searchers heard the trapped man call for help, but he freed himself and climbed out of the river just as deputies discovered his location, the report said of the incident, which is virtually unprecedented in central Oregon. 
 
 "I was just getting off shift when the report came in, and I didn't believe it," Deschutes County Sheriff's Department Lieutenant Joe Deluca said. 
 
 "I'm a city boy from the East Coast, and every day in Deschutes County I learn something new," Deluca added. "This time, I learned, don't mess with a beaver." 
 
 Mitchell and Bailey were both treated for non-life threatening injuries and are expected to recover. There was no information available on the status of the beaver, the sheriff's office said. 
 
 (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Lambert)
– For those still operating under the at-times very misguided notion that beavers are just busy little critters with eccentric tails: KBND reports that two men hiking along Oregon's Deschutes River this week came upon a beaver dam and decided to explore, ending in both being hospitalized after a resident beaver emerged to defend its territory. Clayton Mitchell, 23, told cops the beaver knocked him into the water, while 31-year-old friend John Bailey became entangled in logs. Mitchell called for help, which arrived just as Bailey freed himself. "I was just getting off shift when the report came in, and I didn't believe it," a Deschutes County Sheriff's Department rep tells Reuters, which calls the attack "virtually unprecedented" in the area. "I'm a city boy from the East Coast, and every day in Deschutes County I learn something new. This time, I learned, don't mess with a beaver." Both men's injuries were considered non-life threatening; other recent victims have been seriously mauled or killed.