I was convinced that most of the snake bites were accidental until I saw on YouTube an interview to a casualty doctor on snake bites, first aid and treatment. I assumed this was from a USA / Australia hospital as I've been looking again for the video but could not found it anymore!. What she said was that most of the bites they were seeing were alcohol related. People drink, maybe they have the snake at home or I do not know how but a snake appears on the scene, they try to handle it and... ups!!!
Things can be even worse. They are drunk, any common sense or feeling of embarrassment has already abandoned them, the snake appears and they try to take a selfie shot kissing it... and Oh God, you are lucky if end up on a hospital ICU!!!.
From immortality to mortality on a click.
Online newspapers, YouTubes are full of this stuff. Worldwide. Let us have a look.
ALCOHOL
Here I would like to distinguish between industrialized western countries, were snakes can be kept at home as exotic pets and those rural areas in countries were snakes are basically wild free and in occasional contact with humans.
WFLA Web staff and NBC News. Published May 17, 2017.
"Rescue crews say a Putnam County man is in critical condition after he was bitten in the face by a rattlesnake. Rescue crews were called to Bostwick Tuesday afternoon after the man was bitten in the tongue by an eastern diamondback. The victim's friend said it happened when the man was holding the snake and went to kiss it.
The friend said the man was drinking a little bit at the time.
This is just a sample from last weeks. There is no much to say.
Found another paper from year 2012, South Carolina. According to Steve Bennet with the Department of Natural Resources, 70 to 75 percent of snake bites account for by people trying to catch or kill a venomous snake.
"Right off the bat if you stop and you leave that snake alone you are going to eliminate 70 to 75 percent of the bites, now 60 percent of those involved alcohol, so there you go"
In India, differences aside, the panorama is quite similar.
I remember one episode narrated by Dr. Kuruvilla that looks quite funny (if your are not the main character on the movie): It is about a patient quite drunk that saw on the roadside what seemed to him a nice leather belt and tried to wear it. In fact it was a snake and he got a nice bite. Those and other things we do when we are drunk!
Same message:
Many accidents could be avoided just if people leave snakes alone. A high percent of people trying to catch, kill or play with a snake are under the influence of alcohol and end up with a bite. Just blame yourself.
Alcohol and snake rescuers / handlers:
A special chapter here should be mentioned when the person that takes the alcohol is a snake rescuer. One of the Real Stories that appear in SHE-India is about an expert snake rescuer that was called at night. He had been drinking. Anyhow he decided to go to rescue the snake. He did some mistakes that cost his life and probably would had never done in a sober state. He left a family behind... and he is not the only one.
Snake rescuers get bitten also when smartphones, a camera or curious and noise people get involved on the play, as for just the fraction of a second his attention diverts from the snake.
SELFIES
India has the world record of selfies that resulted on death.
Me, Myself and My Killfie: Characterizing and Preventing Selfie Deaths.
According to this study published by US-based Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, the numbers of deaths due to selfies are increasing with India on the top rank. You can read full text here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.01911.pdf
To me the title of the article means almost all. Me, Myself and My Killfie. Time is gone when the typical holidays picture was taken with the family and the pet dog. Now selfies reflect an individual society that looks for the short compensation of taking a few seconds of attention on the social media.
Dangers of the selfie: The number of likes, comments and shares people get for their selfies are the social currency. The desire of getting more of this social currency prompts youth to extreme lengths
Selfie deaths characterization: The authors define a selfie-related casualty as a death of an individual or a group of people that could have been avoided had the individual(s) not been taking a selfie. This may involve the unfortunate death of other people who died while saving or being present with people who were clicking a selfie in a dangerous manner.
127 worldwide selfie related deaths in two years, 76 happened in India.
Selfies only make sense if there is other people looking at them. That's why I did not want to upload any of them here.
Other interesting news:
A man had to pay Rs 25,000 for posting a selfie with a cobra
that he put previously on a plastic bottle. He was selling on FB the cobra for Rs1,000. The picture went viral through Whatsapp and grabbed the attention of a wildlife activist who reported the Forest Department.
There are many news too about young and not so young people being bitten by a snake while trying to take a selfie... some with the result of death, but not all.
"Rattlesnake selfie" results in a $153K medical bill. CBS News. San Diego. USA
Mr. T.F. was bitten while trying to pose for a selfie with a snake. He needed many doses of antivenom. In addition, this snake bite required emergency treatment, a few days in the hospital intensive care unit and therapy to recover function of the damaged body part.
LETHAL KISSES
abcNEWS.com April 2016
A Florida man was bitten in the face by a venomous snake after trying to kiss it. A.H., 18, of Wimauma, told his friends he took a liking to the snake and decided to keep it as a pet. It was a cottonmouth snake, 4 foot. He was on a critical condition. Family members reportedly killed the reptile and brought it to the hospital.
Phillip, who is a professional herpetologist, said about 3,500 people in the United States are bitten each year by venomous snakes, leading to as many as four fatalities. About 70% of the victims are men between ages of 16 and 25 and alcohol is usually involved, he said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the incident because H. allegedly did not have a permit to have the snake. He faces possible charges, according to WFTS.
Florida requires 1,000 hours of training under the guidance of a licensed expert in order to obtain a permit to handle poisonous snakes.
Somebody has to protect snakes from this kind of behavior!
We need an ETHICAL CODE IN THE MEDIA RELATED TO SNAKE BITES. No more pictures of children handling snakes, no more pictures of people kissing snakes, being bitten and dying in front of the cameras... WE ALL (HUMANS AND SNAKES) DESERVE MORE RESPECT.
Things can be even worse. They are drunk, any common sense or feeling of embarrassment has already abandoned them, the snake appears and they try to take a selfie shot kissing it... and Oh God, you are lucky if end up on a hospital ICU!!!.
From immortality to mortality on a click.
Online newspapers, YouTubes are full of this stuff. Worldwide. Let us have a look.
ALCOHOL
Here I would like to distinguish between industrialized western countries, were snakes can be kept at home as exotic pets and those rural areas in countries were snakes are basically wild free and in occasional contact with humans.
 |
| 56% of snakebite is alcohol associated. Snake bites in Wyoming. Dr. Scott Whitlow, Director Emergency medicine, KDMC |
WFLA Web staff and NBC News. Published May 17, 2017.
"Rescue crews say a Putnam County man is in critical condition after he was bitten in the face by a rattlesnake. Rescue crews were called to Bostwick Tuesday afternoon after the man was bitten in the tongue by an eastern diamondback. The victim's friend said it happened when the man was holding the snake and went to kiss it.
The friend said the man was drinking a little bit at the time.
This is just a sample from last weeks. There is no much to say.
Found another paper from year 2012, South Carolina. According to Steve Bennet with the Department of Natural Resources, 70 to 75 percent of snake bites account for by people trying to catch or kill a venomous snake.
"Right off the bat if you stop and you leave that snake alone you are going to eliminate 70 to 75 percent of the bites, now 60 percent of those involved alcohol, so there you go"
In India, differences aside, the panorama is quite similar.
I remember one episode narrated by Dr. Kuruvilla that looks quite funny (if your are not the main character on the movie): It is about a patient quite drunk that saw on the roadside what seemed to him a nice leather belt and tried to wear it. In fact it was a snake and he got a nice bite. Those and other things we do when we are drunk!
Same message:
Many accidents could be avoided just if people leave snakes alone. A high percent of people trying to catch, kill or play with a snake are under the influence of alcohol and end up with a bite. Just blame yourself.
Alcohol and snake rescuers / handlers:
A special chapter here should be mentioned when the person that takes the alcohol is a snake rescuer. One of the Real Stories that appear in SHE-India is about an expert snake rescuer that was called at night. He had been drinking. Anyhow he decided to go to rescue the snake. He did some mistakes that cost his life and probably would had never done in a sober state. He left a family behind... and he is not the only one.
Snake rescuers get bitten also when smartphones, a camera or curious and noise people get involved on the play, as for just the fraction of a second his attention diverts from the snake.
SELFIES
India has the world record of selfies that resulted on death.
Me, Myself and My Killfie: Characterizing and Preventing Selfie Deaths.
According to this study published by US-based Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, the numbers of deaths due to selfies are increasing with India on the top rank. You can read full text here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.01911.pdf
 |
| Russian government has published a guide on prevention |
To me the title of the article means almost all. Me, Myself and My Killfie. Time is gone when the typical holidays picture was taken with the family and the pet dog. Now selfies reflect an individual society that looks for the short compensation of taking a few seconds of attention on the social media.
Dangers of the selfie: The number of likes, comments and shares people get for their selfies are the social currency. The desire of getting more of this social currency prompts youth to extreme lengths
Selfie deaths characterization: The authors define a selfie-related casualty as a death of an individual or a group of people that could have been avoided had the individual(s) not been taking a selfie. This may involve the unfortunate death of other people who died while saving or being present with people who were clicking a selfie in a dangerous manner.
127 worldwide selfie related deaths in two years, 76 happened in India.
Selfies only make sense if there is other people looking at them. That's why I did not want to upload any of them here.
Other interesting news:
A man had to pay Rs 25,000 for posting a selfie with a cobra
that he put previously on a plastic bottle. He was selling on FB the cobra for Rs1,000. The picture went viral through Whatsapp and grabbed the attention of a wildlife activist who reported the Forest Department.
There are many news too about young and not so young people being bitten by a snake while trying to take a selfie... some with the result of death, but not all.
"Rattlesnake selfie" results in a $153K medical bill. CBS News. San Diego. USAMr. T.F. was bitten while trying to pose for a selfie with a snake. He needed many doses of antivenom. In addition, this snake bite required emergency treatment, a few days in the hospital intensive care unit and therapy to recover function of the damaged body part.
LETHAL KISSES
abcNEWS.com April 2016
A Florida man was bitten in the face by a venomous snake after trying to kiss it. A.H., 18, of Wimauma, told his friends he took a liking to the snake and decided to keep it as a pet. It was a cottonmouth snake, 4 foot. He was on a critical condition. Family members reportedly killed the reptile and brought it to the hospital.
 |
| A.H. Before and after... |
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the incident because H. allegedly did not have a permit to have the snake. He faces possible charges, according to WFTS.
Florida requires 1,000 hours of training under the guidance of a licensed expert in order to obtain a permit to handle poisonous snakes.
Somebody has to protect snakes from this kind of behavior!
ALCOHOL, SELFIES AND LETHAL KISSES WALK HAND BY HAND MANY TIMES.
There are plenty of YouTubes, pictures, posts, on often young people dying from snake bites. Some of them are called "rescuers". They approach the snakes bare hand and are very amateurs. They do not have any specific training at all. Some will get the odd fame of appear on social media after dying of a bite. I do not want to post any of them here.
No more publicity of it.
We need an ETHICAL CODE IN THE MEDIA RELATED TO SNAKE BITES. No more pictures of children handling snakes, no more pictures of people kissing snakes, being bitten and dying in front of the cameras... WE ALL (HUMANS AND SNAKES) DESERVE MORE RESPECT.
ॐ लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु ॥
Om Lokah Samasthah Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings everywhere be happy and peaceful
