http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/serpent-handling-pastor-profiled-earlier-in-washington-post-dies-from-rattlesnake-bite/2012/05/29/gJQAJef5zU_story.html

Rattlesnake bites are really nasty. This man was totally stupid to not get anti-venom serum immediately.

I had a friend who was bitten on the arm while hiking in the Wasatch Mountains. The KSL News helicopter picked him up from a steep mountainside and took him to the hospital. He lived but he lost about 50% of the use of his arm.

One Sunday morning I had a dog get bitten by a rattlesnake on the west ridge of Grandeur Peak. We were about half a mile up the trail when the dig was bitten. I carried the dog (80 lbs.) off the mountain to my truck and went to an emergency veterinarian in South Salt Lake. They had me drive to the University Hospital to pick up a vial of anti-venom serum. Within two hours of getting bitten, my dog received the anti-venom serum. I took the dog home at about 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The dog recovered completely.

At the time of the bite, my dog was on a six foot leash and was walking ahead of me. The snake struck without warning -- no rattling. If the dog had not been walking ahead of me I very likely would have been bitten. So my dog saved me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2012 04:55PM by saviorself.

Scary...Hepetologists are theorizing that rattlers are losing their rattles in the same way elephants are losing their tusks- (Google it if no one believes me.) It will make them a hell of a of more dangerous if people can't hear the rattle.

I watched a "Taboo" last night about snake handlers. I kept think, "Yeah, just because you can do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do it- no matter how much faith you have." But then again, I'm an atheist, so what do I know?