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Snakebites on rise
The Wall Street Journal ^ | August 5, 2019 | Valerie Bauerlein

Posted on 08/05/2019 1:46:26 PM PDT by Bonemaker

RALEIGH, N.C.—Venomous snakebites are on the rise in the Sunbelt this summer, with North Carolina, Georgia and Texas on track to set records.

In North Carolina and Georgia, venomous snakebites have been rising for the past several years and are up more than 10% from a year ago, according to the states’ poison-control centers. In Texas, there were 415 reported snakebites in May and June, 27% more than the same period five years ago.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Outdoors
KEYWORDS: copperhead; snakebite; south
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Northeast tenderfeet hardest hit.
1 posted on 08/05/2019 1:46:26 PM PDT by Bonemaker
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To: Bonemaker

global warming. it’s pissing off the snakes.


2 posted on 08/05/2019 1:47:31 PM PDT by JohnBrowdie
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To: Bonemaker

Then we MUST HAVE SNAKE CONTROL LAWS!..................


3 posted on 08/05/2019 1:48:31 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain......................)
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To: Bonemaker

this is what happens when a leftist, tofu eating jackass goes into the boonies without any clue about wildlife.


4 posted on 08/05/2019 1:49:27 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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To: Bonemaker

We need government to ban venom.


5 posted on 08/05/2019 1:49:36 PM PDT by lurk
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To: Bonemaker

More snakes, more snakebites.
More people, more snakebites.
More snakes and people, way more snakebites.

It’s that easy.


6 posted on 08/05/2019 1:50:32 PM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (A law means nothing if it isnÂ’t followed.)
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To: txnativegop
this is what happens when a leftist, tofu eating jackass goes into the boonies without any clue about wildlife.

I feel sorry for the poor snake then.

7 posted on 08/05/2019 1:52:05 PM PDT by sport
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To: Bonemaker

venomous snakes obviously don’t have a pro-abortion movement . . . yet.


8 posted on 08/05/2019 1:52:15 PM PDT by JohnBrowdie
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To: Bonemaker

9 posted on 08/05/2019 1:52:20 PM PDT by al_c (Democrats: Party over Common Sense)
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity
More snakes, more snakebites.

More people, more snakebites.

More snakes and people, way more snakebites.

More people who think snakes are like Disney animals...................

10 posted on 08/05/2019 1:54:03 PM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain......................)
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To: txnativegop

Or people simply go to a new part of the country where they don’t recognize the venomous snakes.

Mrs. Buckeye nearly got bitten by a copperhead once because they did not exist where she grew up and she hadn’t seen one before.

Though I think you’d know a rattlesnake just about anywhere.


11 posted on 08/05/2019 1:54:20 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: sport

Yeah, it was looking for meat and found a vegetable. LOL


12 posted on 08/05/2019 1:54:25 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

Genesis 3:15


13 posted on 08/05/2019 1:55:42 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

glad she’s okay, copperheads are bad news all around.


14 posted on 08/05/2019 1:56:05 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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To: Bonemaker

North Carolina leads the nation in snake bites.

Fortunately most of them are copperheads. They are bad but almost no one dies from them. Probably the most dangerous of them all is the Eastern Diamondback.


15 posted on 08/05/2019 1:59:28 PM PDT by yarddog
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To: yarddog

Those city slickers from up north moving down to the Carolinas are most at risk!!


16 posted on 08/05/2019 2:04:09 PM PDT by ladyjane
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To: Buckeye McFrog


Though I think you’d know a rattlesnake just about anywhere.

it's the ones you don't see that get you.         my ex-gf was weeding and got bit by a pygmy rattler.    8-$5000 each anti-venum and 5 days in intensive care.


17 posted on 08/05/2019 2:04:13 PM PDT by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: Bonemaker

In eastern Oregon, whiskey is considered a treatment for snakebite. In many bases, you will find a case of whiskey right next to the box of snakes.

I wonder if it works the same way in Baptist territory.


18 posted on 08/05/2019 2:04:14 PM PDT by Hieronymus ("I shall drink--to the Pope, if you please,-still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.")
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To: Bonemaker

With the internet every hidden swimming hole and hiking destination that were once only known to locals are now common knowledge among the masses.

More people being outside equals more encounters with the nasties of nature.


19 posted on 08/05/2019 2:09:21 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Bonemaker

Have to sign in to read the article...I knew there was a reason I never clicked on WSJ articles...

I wonder if it has anything to do with the rains this year running them out of their normal territory and into peoples’ yards? Out here I see copperheads every year, and a cottonmouth now and then (nasty bastards and probably the most aggressive) plus plenty non venomous varieties. Spotted a 6 foot chicken snake a couple of weeks ago. Also common around here.

But with all the rains, their normal habitat could be flooded. I’ve seen that happen after tornadoes too, I always make sure I carry a pistol with me after a tornado hits, everything gets stirred up and pushed out of its normal living area.

Last year a hurricane flooded much of north carolina, flooding in Houston not long ago, (then again Houston floods easy, I’ve seen every underpass in town flood in a 2 inch rain), other places too. That always pushes these critters out of their normal areas. So I wonder how many of these are related to the excess water forcing them to find higher ground. Anywhere within a couple of hours of the Mississippi has had serious problems this year, I’m still seeing reports or crop failures or missed planting altogether from flooding earlier this year...i places it washed the topsoil away.

Hadn’t really thought of this till I read this thread, but any time you have flooding, they are forced to find higher ground, and then often they are in more common contact with humans.


20 posted on 08/05/2019 2:18:30 PM PDT by Paleo Pete (It's not a toe, it's a furniture location device!)
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