Posted on 05/16/2023 5:40:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A 26-year-old woman was airlifted to a hospital Saturday morning after she was bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking with her dog on Romero Canyon Trail near Santa Barbara.
The woman was about a mile and a half up the 6-mile loop trail when the snake bit her in the foot, Montecito Fire Protection District officials said. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff/Fire Air Support Unit responded and transported her to the hospital via helicopter by approximately 10:15 a.m. Meanwhile, firefighters hiked back down the trail with the woman’s dog and brought it to Santa Barbara County Animal Services, which will reunite the pair, officials said.
SFGATE reached out for additional details regarding the woman’s condition, but fire officials said they did not have more information at this time. Comments on social media from relatives appeared to say the woman has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Too busy on the phone.
My hearing has gotten so bad, i wonder if I would hear the damn thing rattling.
What type ? The Mohave Rattlesnake is 10x more venomous than the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.
Snarky much? You must not know a blessed thing about rattlesnakes - or how effective their camouflage is.
Much more fun to take a swipe at the victim, right?
You don’t go alone...geez...First thing my dad taught...whether fishing, hunting, camping...
Ah, yes, let's go hiking barefoot in rattlesnake country.
They don’t always buzz - I’ve seen the damn things strike without making a sound.
Snakes are good, very good, at blending in with their background. You can be keeping an eye out for snakes and still miss seeing one until it moves and catches your attention.
Snake season has started here in the south. We usually have just hog snakes and the standard king snakes. Those we cultivate by letting them have their habitat without bothering them.
However, we also have a few copperheads show up occasionally. The hog snakes are good at keeping them at bay, but we are always on the look-out when doing things outside that involves disturbing the landscape, or reaching down to get a tool that may have fallen into the tall grass. We are also careful when reaching near the outside water spigot or other areas where snakes may go for moisture when preparing to shed their skin. You can never be too careful.
She wasn’t likely barefoot: a rattlesnake can penetrate shoes with their fangs. The only footwear that can stop one of their strikes are heavy leather boots and even they should be supplanted by heavy gaiters in rattlesnake areas.
I wouldn’t plan on any of them rattling. The feral hogs love to eat rattlesnakes and the rattle is a dinner bell. So we have a bit of punctuated evolution that has selectively eliminated the noisy ones.
You all didn’t read the story! She got bit because of climate change!
I’ve run across a few that I never saw until they moved.
And the Mohave has an nasty attitude as well. Sometimes they are Ok, but others they are nasty. Never can tell with them.
Never seen so many as I have this year.
As long as the dog is ok.
That's what I mean. Anything less, you might as well be barefoot. I live here. I wouldn't go out there in sandals or sneakers, or anything less than snake boots and gaitors. But people do the dumbest things...
My wife was working in the emergency room one day when they brought in a woman who picked up a baby rattler because she thought "it was cute." Fortunately, she was in city limits when it happened.
The small ones a bad, adults will often dry bite.
“Much more fun to take a swipe at the victim, right?”
Well, yes..now that you mention it.
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