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Pompano
Elite Nomad
    
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
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Rattlesnakes: You never know when...or where?
This happened today at a Walmart in Washington state. I read it while having a streamside lunch on the Bighorn River
in eastern Montana.
(Reuters) - When Mica Craig reached down to brush what he thought was a stick off some mulch in the garden section of a Washington state Walmart, it
turned around and sank its fangs into his hand.
The Friday encounter with a rattlesnake sent Craig, 47, to the hospital, where he said he remained in excruciating pain and may lose feeling in two
fingers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has apologized.
"I reached down to grab the stick to move it out of the way, and the snake stretched out, turned around and got its fangs in my right hand," he said.
"I slung it off and I did a tap dance on it until it was dead."
Craig was rushed to the hospital by fellow customer Maria Geffre, who told Reuters she saw him crumple to the ground after crying out that he had been
bitten by a snake.
"He had punctures on his hand and there was the dead rattler he'd stomped on," Geffre said, describing the snake as at least a foot long with four
buttons, or rattles.
Craig, a married father of two, said the mulch was for his marijuana plants, which he is licensed to grow for medical reasons. It was unclear whether
the snake came from an adjacent field or arrived at the store along with garden supplies.
Craig said doctors who initially thought the snake had inflicted only a "dry bite" - or one that did not inject venom - treated him with six bags of
anti-venom after his right hand swelled to the size of a melon.
End of news article.
______
So..after that... What do I come upon at this Bighorn, Montana rest stop but this

Note: It's damn tough for me to 'hover' over the grass, but I managed pretty well.
There are some VERY big ones out there.
"Stay levitated, my friends."

[Edited on 5-15-2012 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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goldhuntress
Senior Nomad
 
Posts: 663
Registered: 1-28-2010
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See how dangerous marijuana is! I think it's time to watch reefer madness again
Seriously, that is bad luck. I would hope I could tell the difference between a stick and a rattlesnake but I can see how your senses could be less
than aware if you were in a store
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Archie
Nomad

Posts: 163
Registered: 4-23-2012
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Been too close too many times to Cascabeles to trust them.
I work in wildlife management for conservation in most of the ejidos south of El Rosario, we had one of our crew members bitten in 2005 near catavina
on the road to el faro de san jose. Classic hero move, he tried to pick it by the tail for a picture and got hit in his right hand index.
Other coleague is a certified paramedic and stopped him from injecting the anti-viper serum we always carry in the camping kit. He explained us the
danger of using a serum that may provoque an allergic reaction worst than the poison itself. We used instead a sirynge type venom extractor directly
on the wounds.
I got to drive and the paramedic and the guy holding his hand in a clean shirt climbed on the back seat and headed to the way out, some miles ahead
found a military patrol, asked if they had a radio or sat phone. Negative.
Short of options we rushed to the paved road and had to make a quick decision between driving 10 minutes to Cataviña and see if they can help us, or
drive the 100 kilometers to El Rosario that i know they had a medic and a clinic (a graduated student at least). So far had been some 25-30 minutes
from the bite and my friend just whines from intense pain and swelling but hes not shocking or collapsing, so we decide to go north.
The first hour its the most dangerous so we gave him lots of gatorade and kept him distracted while the paramedic used the venom extractor. As soon as
we had cellphone reception called *112, thats the emergency number of Policia Federal de Caminos, explained the situation and they called El Rosario
local police who waited for us at the town entrance and escorted us to the Seguro Popular clinic, there the resident medic had to split herself in two
between taking care of the bite and two local girls that arrived at the same time because they smashed themselves and their ATV to a wall. No helmet
of course.
The guy saved his hand but lost movility of the finger. The doctor explained the venom of this particular species is hemolytic, meaning it destroys
blood, muscle and bone tissue.
(sorry, its the least gross picture i got from that day)

This guy is Lalo the park ranger in San Pedro Martir, hes always with two labs. He was the owner of the labrador we lost to a rattler in el Llano del
Berrendo.
Thats why i dont trust snakes.
[Edited on 5-15-2012 by Archie]
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
   
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Appreciated detailed info --- thank you!
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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