Rattlesnake Bite on 679 !!

[RednekF350]

And you wonder why I don't like snakes.
This good samaritan was trying to move it out of the road.
I find they are more easily removed with a shovel after they are flattened.

Only kidding.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110617/NEWS01/110617007/Rattlesnake-bites-man-Pinelands

 

[Boyd]

Wow. I've only seen one rattler in the pines - not far from Carranza. It was right in the middle of the trail and I didn't realize what it was, but didn't want to confront it so I tossed a stick at it, expecting it to slither away. Instead, it attacked the stick and started rattling! Scared the *$#@ out of me.

 

[46er]

the snake squirmed free, wrapped itself around the man's arm and sank its fangs into his hand.

Sounds like he picked it up, or used a very short stick. The term moron comes to mind

 

[Scrambler81]

I can understand wanting to get it out of traffic, but why the heck would you hold it in a postition that allowed it to get to your arm? I'd be using a really, really big stick.
My sister lives in the Sanctuary in Marlton, where they found the rattler den several years ago. The first day there a rattler showed up in the driveway. My brother picked it up with a rake and dropped it in a trash can to wait for the town to have it picked up. They didn't show up until the next day, and then they didn't want anyone out of the house while they moved it because they said it was dangerous. How did they think the thing got in that trash can in the first place?!?

 

[manumuskin]

sounds to me like he pinned it's head and picked it up,then stupidly allowed the snake to wrap around his arm with it's tail which it then promptly used for leverage and yanked it's head out of his grip and then turned and sunk it's fangs into his arm.
Always hold the tail with the other hand so the snake cannot use it's body as a grip to yank it's head free.Better yet,if you don't know what your doing leave it alone.Rattlers aren't climbers.It didn't run up the stick and bite him.he picked it up.

 

[Chrisr]

sounds to me like he pinned it's head and picked it up,then stupidly allowed the snake to wrap around his arm with it's tail which it then promptly used for leverage and yanked it's head out of his grip and then turned and sunk it's fangs into his arm.
Always hold the tail with the other hand so the snake cannot use it's body as a grip to yank it's head free.Better yet,if you don't know what your doing leave it alone.Rattlers aren't climbers.It didn't run up the stick and bite him.he picked it up.

I was kinda thinking along your lines, Al. I think the guy watched to much Animal Planet and figured he could pick it up and just move it. Boy was he wrong!!!

 

[dogg57]

Be very careful with freshly killed snakes. Their muscle reactions continue well after the brain has been destroyed. They can strike even after they have been mortally injured. Cut off the head or keep the head pinned down so it can't strike. They say the snake can strike with a 75% accuracy up to 30-45 minutes after the body is destroyed or head cut off with a foot of the body attached and be a fatal bite .

 

[dragoncjo]

I appreciate the guys effort to get it too safety but there is no need to pick it up. Shuffling your feet behind it will scurry them across the road. More then likely this guy wanted to handle it and sounds like he had an idea about how to accomplish this. A snake should never be pinned and I'm guessing this guy could have been intentionally looking for the snakes.

 

[Teegate]

Maybe he was actually trying to take it and not trying to move it across the road. I wonder Chris if he has a yellow car

Guy

 

[dragoncjo]

Guy I think you have a strong point.

 

[manumuskin]

of all my four rattler encounters only one acted aggressively and I had just run over him.Didn't hit him of course but I thought he was a stick till he reared in a defensive S posture.I slammed on breaks admidst a cloud of dust and when I went back to see if my worst fears were confirmed he was quite alive and spirited and ready to fight.He was actually the smallest rattler I ver came across and i doubt he was over three years oldor she,didn't check it out quite that well.
My questuion is this Dragon.If the experts do not pin snakes how would they ever get a hold of the head to milk them.I can see that tailing and hooks are a better more gentle way to handle snakes but when it comes to milking at least I'd think pinning a necessity.

 

[dragoncjo]

Al, I'm sure for milking its necessary but in this case I think there was better ways to get the animal across. I'm sure the guy had good intentions. Crossing rattlesnakes can be tricky if you run up on them agrresively they coil up normally and then its tough to get them across. I've had luck with just encouraging them along.

 

[Teegate]

Here he is.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/6at4/story?section=6at4&id=8197081

Guy

 

[dragoncjo]

Just like I thought he wanted to handle the snake. You mess with a rattler and your going to get tagged. They are an docile creature really but you mess with them your going to get bit. Again I appreciate his effort to get it off the road but get it off and move along....he seems like a stand up guy though.

 

[Teegate]

....he seems like a stand up guy though.

Yea....I may have been wrong on that guess. I am sure even if he was doing wrong he won't do that again. Wait until he get the helicopter bill. I was reading an article online concerning the average $15,000. cost of the flights and how some people feel the paramedics are calling choppers for events that they should not be.

Guy

 

[dogg57]

He stopped his truck so hard that tire tracks were left on the pavement near the intersection of Chatsworth and West Stage roads. He got out to look at the animal and then used a large stick to pin it down. Then, as he has been trained to do with other, non-venomous species, he grabbed the snake by the back of its head in an attempt to pick it up and carry it to the side of the road.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_d7989168-9929-11e0-88ae-001cc4c03286.html

 

[Teegate]

He made it to the front page of MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43444469/ns/us_news-weird_news/

Guy

 

[bobpbx]

Again I appreciate his effort to get it off the road but get it off and move along....he seems like a stand up guy though.

I was just about to come to the guy's defense, and you guys stood up for him. Good for you. We all do things that are not real smart when we are young, but that does not mean we are stupid or morons. It's a part of life.

 

[manumuskin]

I disagree with the map.I think Rattlers come much further south then the map shows.They were found along union lake into the 80's.When 55 was built through vineland in 72 the snaks had to cross the new highway from their den to get to the maurice river and follow that to the lake and they gradually disappeared from the bluffs.The last one found was in the mid 80's but the fact remains the same habitats exist down here as up there and I just can't believe htere aren't a few rattlers left south of the Mullica.
I just wonder if he had a proper hold on the snakes head how it flipped out.I think he must oif let it use it's tail to gain leverage either for a backwards yank or a crocodile style "death roll".I'll have to go through my backup discs and find the pic of me holding a tennessee timber (much yellower then ours).If you hold the snake the way in the pic it will not be able to use it's body to torque it's head out and then give you a bite that will start digesting your soft tissue.
I'm glad the video clip used the word venemous.I get so tired of hearing so called experts refer to snakes as posionous.If rattlers were poisonous people would not be eating them at rattlesnake roundups.

 

[Pan]

Snake in the grass by Simm Place, NJ Pine Barrens. 40 years ago, Sep 1971.