Horror At The Campfire: Pennsylvania Rattlesnake Claims First Victim In Decades

By KARA SEYMOUR

A Pennsylvania man who died from a rattlesnake bite over the weekend was the Keystone State’s first victim of a venomous snake in at least a quarter of a century, according to information from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Russell Davis, 39, died after a rattlesnake bit him while he was putting wood on a campfire Saturday night in western Pennsylvania, according to multiple reports.

Davis was at a private camp near Medix Run in Elk County when he was bitten by a timber rattlesnake, authorities told the Pittsburgh Tribune.

The Beaver County man quickly alerted his girlfriend who was camping with him. As she was driving him to the hospital, he experienced respiratory problems, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Davis’ girlfriend stopped at a local tavern for assistance and an ambulance was called, the Tribune- Review reported. He was given anti-venom treatment before being placed to a helicopter headed to a Pittsburgh hospital, the report said.

But he reportedly died en route to the hospital and was pronounced dead in Armstrong County.

The situation is extremely rare, experts say.

“Venomous snake bites rarely occur to people,” said Christopher A. Urban, a Nongame & Endangered Species Coordinator with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. “In a typical year, the Pennsylvania Fish and Commission becomes aware of no more than two or three bites from non-captive, venomous snakes in Pennsylvania. Most years there are no reports.”

On its website, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says this is the single reported death in Pennsylvania attributable to a timber rattlesnake bite over the past 25 years.

Snakebites from chance encounters between timber rattlesnakes and people in State Forests are rare, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says on its website. “Rattlesnakes are generally secretive and docile and normally choose to move away, hide, or issue a warning buzz to avoid a confrontation,” the DCNR says in an online brochure about timber rattlesnakes.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the largest populations of timber rattlesnakes occur in the remote, heavily forested regions of Pennsylvania.

Active season for timber rattlesnakes is April to October, the DCNR says. “The frequency of encounters between humans and timber rattlesnakes increases in July and August when male snakes actively seek mates,” according to the DCNR.

Click here to read safety precautions when in timber rattlesnake habitats.

(Photo: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources)