Getting outdoors, more run into rattlesnakes
If you’re planning a trip to Yosemite National Park, it’s not just the fire advisory you have to be aware of; you also need to be mindful of rattlesnakes.
The park, in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, described two rattlesnake bite incidents in a blog post on Friday, and offered tips to hikers about how to keep themselves safe should they encounter the animals.
“This summer season, there has been a noticeable uptick in rattlesnake bites in the greater Yosemite region,” the blog post reads. “These two cases provide a good opportunity to review advice for how to handle an encounter with a rattlesnake.”
A backpacker reported the first incident Aug. 27, calling in a “snake emergency.” Around 2:30 p.m. the day before, a rattlesnake bit a hiker who was fishing barefoot.
His wife went to go get help on her own after they tried hiking together. The husband was transferred to a park ambulance, where a paramedic treated the man’s dehydration, nausea and pain. The hiker was flown to a Modesto hospital; he was expected to be discharged over the weekend (and was given two doses of the antivenom CroFab), more than a week after the bite.
In the second incident, a snake struck a hiker’s left knee Aug. 29.
Another hiker with cell service called 911. They opted to apply a tourniquet but were told to remove it after they spoke with a park ranger-paramedic.
He was also later transferred to an air ambulance and received treatment for dehydration, nausea and pain, along with four doses of CroFab. As of the time of the blog post’s publication, the hiker was still hospitalized, though he was set to leave in a day or two.