Decapitated rattlesnake bites man near Tri-Cities 11:27 AM PDT on Thursday, August 9, 2007 Associated Press PROSSER, Wash. -- Apparently, even a dead snake can bite. A man says he was bitten by the decapitated head of a rattlesnake on his property in Prosser, Washington, near the Tri-Cities.
File Photo
Western rattlesnake
[/align] Danny Anderson and his son saw the five-foot rattler Monday evening while feeding horses. They pinned it with a pipe and cut off its head with a shovel.
When Anderson reached down to pick it up, he says the snake head twisted around and bit his index finger. In the ten minutes it took to reach Prosser Memorial Hospital, the venom spread through his body and his tongue had already started to swell. He was treated with shots at the hospital.
State Fish and Wildlife Department biologist Mike Livingston says it's possible the snake had the heat-sensing ability to make one last attack or it may have been a reflex.