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[pct-l] from the SD paper: Big crop of rattlers wriggling into area

Big crop of rattlers wriggling into area

The experts' advice: Just leave them alone

By Ed Jahn  STAFF WRITER=20

May 11, 1998=20

El Ni=F1o may be subsiding, but you can add a bumper crop of rattlesnakes to
the list of effects resulting from the unusual weather phenomenon.

During one warm and sunny week at the end of April and the beginning of
May, the San Diego Regional Poison Center received reports of six people
being bitten by rattlesnakes.

And this spring, the county's Animal Control Department has been averaging
a couple of calls each day from residents who have come upon the poisonous
reptiles in their garages and yards.

But don't go on the warpath against these critters, despite their tendency
to arouse a primordial fear. The snakes are relatively harmless, say animal
experts, and they do a lot more good than harm by feeding on rodents.

"The people who show up in emergency rooms with snakebites are usually
young men with at least three beers in their systems who have been trying
to show off by catching a snake," said Sally Shelton, director of
collections for the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Shelton was only half jesting. "Rattlesnakes do not see humans as prey,"
she said. "They would much rather leave you alone and get away than strike."

Shelton and other snake experts say the best course of action is to leave
the snakes alone. And, if bitten, the best advice is to stay calm and get
to a medical facility as quickly as possible, they say.

The county lies within the rattlesnake's habitat, however, so as
neighborhoods expand, contacts between humans and snakes become inevitable.

Add to that a high yield of foliage generated by the unusually wet winter
brought on by El Ni=F1o, and you have abundant food for rats and mice, the
snakes' favorite prey.

"With all this rain, it's been a good year for everything all the way up
the food chain," Shelton said.

"It's been a jump-start this year for the rattlesnakes," said Lt. Mary Kay
Gagliardo, field supervisor for the county's Animal Control Department.
"Tierrasanta, Clairemont, Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch -- all communities
around the canyons have been calling in about snakes.

"The warm weather brings them out. They've been hibernating through this
long, cold winter and now the breeding season is starting. By the middle of
the summer, expect to see a lot of little ones," Gagliardo said.

The rattlesnake makes no distinction on location in its quest for food, and
will enter a garage, shed or woodpile if it senses that's where the rodents
are, she added. "They are going into garages because that's where the food
is. They are not there to hurt you."

Unfortunately for the snakes, the result is often death when an animal
control officer makes a house call. "Some snakes we decapitate on the spot
because they are a public nuisance. We don't want officers driving around
with rattlesnakes," Gagliardo said.

Whenever possible, though, an officer tries to catch the snake and relocate
it away from homes, she said. "Sometimes we have to tell people who call to
just cut the snake's head off with a shovel, if they are comfortable with
that. Generally, the snake will just sit there while you cut its head off."

Although they are not aggressive, rattlesnakes will strike at humans if
they are cornered, surprised or provoked, said Dr. Richard Clark, medical
director for the San Diego Regional Poison Center.

And even if bitten, your chances of survival are very good because of
improved antivenin antidotes, he said. Also, in 20 to 30 percent of bites,
the snake is not able to inject venom, he added.

Of the last five fatalities caused by snakebites in this country, three
resulted from bites where the venom went directly into a blood vessel.
Another was because the victim had an allergic reaction to the antivenin,
and the other was caused by the victim's tongue swelling and causing
asphyxiation, Clark said.

There are many remedies, such as cutting the wound and sucking out the
venom, but almost all of them are unproven, Clark said. Victims may want to
wrap the bite with a bandage that is snug enough to slow the venom's flow
into surrounding tissue but not so tight as to restrict the flow of blood,
he said.

"By all means, stay calm." he said. "Statistically, you are 50 times more
likely in this country to die from an allergic reaction to a bee sting than
die from a snakebite."

Copyright 1998 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.=20
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