"It's cruel to the animal and it leaves you with a smaller piece that's venomous to pick up," she told the Gizmodo news site.<doc-sep>A Texas man thought he had saved his wife from a wayward rattlesnake when he chopped off the animal’s head with a shovel. Instead, the decapitated snake turned and bit him, leaving the man in a coma and his wife fearing for his life. Jennifer Sutcliffe said she and her husband were doing yard work on Memorial Day weekend – in preparation for a family barbecue – when she spotted a 4-foot long Western diamondback rattlesnake slithering through her flowerbed. Ms Sutcliffe screamed, she told the Washington Post, altering her husband to the snake’s presence. Her husband ran over and swiftly decapitated the animal with his shovel, leaving both to think the crisis had been averted. But Ms Sutcliffe was back in the house just ten minutes later when she heard her husband screaming outside. She ran into the yard to find the rattlesnake's fangs embedded in her husband’s hand, she said. The snake had bitten him while he was trying to pick up the remains. According to experts, snakes can maintain their biting reflexes for at least an hour after they are killed. The headless bodies of snakes have also been known to rise up in a “strike” position even after they are decapitated. ✕ Mother lets baby be bitten by snake in order to 'teach her a lesson' Ms Sutcliffe said she called 911 and immediately began driving her husband to the nearest hospital with antivenom, a little over an hour away. But she quickly realised that her husband, who was seizing and losing vision, wasn’t going to make it that long. Ms Sutcliffe called an ambulance and eventually had her husband emergency helicoptered to the the hospital. When they arrived, she said, doctors feared her husband might not survive. He was suffering from septic shock and internal bleeding, and some of his organs had started shutting down. Doctors induced a coma and put him on a ventilator. "A normal person who is going to get bit is going to get two to four doses of antivenom," Ms Sutcliffe told local news station KIIII. "He had to have 26 doses." World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire.<doc-sep>A Texas man is recovering in hospital after being bitten by a rattlesnake’s head – after it had been chopped from its body. Jeremy Sutcliffe, 40, had to be administered with 26 doses of antivenom to try and keep him alive, having slipped into a coma when the severed head bit him. Mr Sutcliffe and his wife Jennifer were gardening outside their home, near Lake Corpus Christi in southern Texas, at the end of May. Mrs Sutcliffe was working in a flower bed when she discovered a four-foot-long Western diamondback rattlesnake. “I reached down to pull out a little area of grass that was growing around one of my flowers, and I almost grabbed the snake,” she told The Washington Post. “The snake was not happy about that at all. It came up with its head, so I screamed.” Mr Sutcliffe, alerted by his wife’s screams, came over with a shovel and decapitated the animal. He believed the ordeal was over but, ten minutes later, his picked up the head and it bit him – not knowing that snakes can discharge venom up to an hour after the head is removed. “I heard him screaming that it had bit him,” said Mrs Sutcliffe, who was in the house at the time. “I ran out there, and he was able to get the snake ripped off his hand.”<doc-sep>
Photo : David McNew ( Getty ) A Texas man thought he had bested a rattlesnake by decapitating it, but when he tried to pick up the slain serpent’s head, it bit him and released a potentially fatal dose of venom into his body. His wife Jennifer Sutcliffe told local news station KIIITV that doctors said he might not survive, but he is now in recovery, thanks to 26 vials of antivenom. Trauma surgeon Michael Halpert told the news outlet the man’s kidney function is weak, but he is stable. The man was reportedly doing yard work on Memorial Day when he saw the four-foot rattlesnake and used a shovel to behead it. When it bit him, his wife tried to drive him to the hospital, but he began having seizures in the car. She met an ambulance, and then an emergency helicopter rushed him to the hospital. “That’s kind of a classic mistake. People don’t realize that reptiles and mammals are wired differently,” Leslie Boyer, antivenom doctor and founding Director of the University of Arizona VIPER Institute, told Gizmodo. “The head end of a cut-up rattlesnake can continue to function, including the venom glands, for a long time afterward and, in fact, the other half continues to work. It’ll rise and rattle.” As far as how long, she couldn’t say for sure. Boyer has heard of snakes moving 12 hours after being cut in two. And she’s even consulted on a case where someone was envenomated by a mummified snake head years after the reptile died. According to Boyer, cutting up a snake is one of the worst ways to handle the situation. “It’s cruel to the animal and it leaves you with a smaller piece that’s venomous to pick up,” she said. It’s better to just back away at least two steps, and call an expert to remove it. Or move it yourself. She would only advise killing it if it’s in a confined space and is an immediate threat. Early articles on the Texas incident suggested that the snake released more venom than it would have if it were still alive. But Boyer said that doesn’t seem to be the case, since 26 vials of anti-venom is just slightly more than the average amount needed to save the victim of a rattlesnake bite. Boyer said there aren’t good statistics about snake bites in the U.S., but most experts say that there are a few thousand snake bites a year resulting in around a dozen deaths. “As far as a lesson, if a snake chomping you post-mortem is better or worse: It’s on the same order as a live snake,” Boyer said. “So dead or alive, if the venom glands are still in the part with the fangs, it can still empty the venom glands through the fangs.” [KIIITV]