To the editor:
Leslie Bishop recently wrote a guest column about peoples’ fear of venomous snakes and whether it was justified.
I just want to point out a few things:
The cost to treat a timber rattlesnake bite ranges from $50,000 to upwards of $153,000 due to the cost of antivenin and several days of hospitalization.
In 2017, multiple small children across the nation were bitten by rattlesnakes in someone’s yard.
Since the late ’90s, in the vicinity of the Taylor Ridge campground, there have been a dog killed on a Brown County trail and two horses bitten by baby timber rattlesnakes in a neighboring property’s barn, and a copperhead bite in 2016 at the campground. Now this 2017 video of the big snake indicates to me that there are snake dens in the vicinity of the campgrounds that the DNR is harboring.
So, do I think people’s fear of rattlesnakes is justified? Yes, due to the lasting emotional and physical damage it does, along with financial hardship.
I also believe the chances of getting bitten by a rattlesnake in Brown County State Park are much higher than the national statistics due to the proximity of the snakes to the campgrounds.
Anna Stringer, Unionville
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