Assessing the danger
Jim was absolutely certain that he would be able to extract from the ground whatever it was that he needed to retrieve. At that precise moment, the idea of giving up hope on a defenceless creature was more than he could bear to consider.
It is not unheard of for a beaver that is infected with rabies to display hostile behaviour toward people.Beavers are known to carry the rabies virus. On the other hand, when Jim asked a couple of his close friends for assistance, one of them was mauled to death by a vicious dog after being attacked by the dog.