Associated Press
Oregon cop battles 12-foot python to save pet store owner
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A pet store owner is calling a police sergeant a hero for saving her from the coils of a 12-foot Burmese python doing its best to turn her into a meal.
Teresa Rossiter had reached into a cage Thursday to show the huge snake to a customer when it bit her right hand and coiled around her left arm to throw her to the floor.
A friend who happened to be at the store kept the snake off her neck and body while police were called. And when Sgt. Ryan Nelson rushed into the store, he was ready to kill the snake with his knife.
But Rossiter asked him to spare the expensive python, so Nelson put on gloves and pried open the snake’s mouth to free Rossiter’s hand.
Two responders from the Eugene Fire Department helped unwrap the snake, which was eventually returned to its cage.
Rossiter called Nelson a hero.
“He was the bravest guy ever. He went way above and beyond the call of duty,” she told The Oregonian.
Rossiter suffered dozens of puncture wounds, but she, the sergeant and the python were fine.
Man Bitten by Coral Snake Walks into Hospital
Courtesy: www.caller.com
Originally published 08:37 a.m., April 21, 2008
Updated 08:37 a.m., April 21, 2008
BEEVILLE — A 24-year-old man walked into the Christus Spohn Hospital in Beeville around 10 p.m. Sunday night with a venomous coral snake bite.
The man was transported by Halo Flight to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial about 11 p.m. in serious condition. No update on his condition was available Monday morning.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, about 7,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S. each year and 1 out of 500 result in death. On average, 1 to 2 people in Texas die each year from venomous snake bites.
Coral snakes are one of two types of venomous snakes found in Texas, the other is pit vipers (copperhead, cottonmouth and rattlesnake). Coral snakes are Elapids, snakes that have short, permanently erect fangs located along each side of the upper jaw. They have red, yellow and black color bands on their body. The bite is generally very painful.
