Rattlesnake bit man who grabbed it with BBQ tongs to protect kids, CA officials say

When a rattlesnake started to frighten neighborhood children, a California man reached for his barbecue tongs.

He picked the snake up in hopes of moving it safely away, but the snake struck out and bit him near his thumb, the Riverside County Animal Services said in a news release.

Officials took the man, who wasn’t identified by Animal Services, to a nearby hospital and removed the snake from the Sycamore Creek area. The agency also did not know the man’s condition after the bite.

“A coiled rattlesnake can strike the length of its body and the bites are painful and, in some rare cases, fatal,” Animal Services Commander Chris Mayer said.

When officials arrived at the property, they found the rattlesnake coiled near bushes. An officer used 5-foot tongs to grab the snake.

It flailed in the tongs, “much like a bass does when caught on a line,” Officer Mike McGee said. He then wrangled the snake into a bucket and took it away.

The rattlesnake was later euthanized after officials determined it wouldn’t be safe to be released in that neighborhood.

“We try to release rattlesnakes within one mile of where we remove it from, but it was highly likely this snake might end up in one of the adjacent homes again,” McGee said in the news release. “I didn’t believe a routine release would be safe this time.”

Rattlesnakes love the warm weather, and as temperatures have increased so have sightings of the creatures. McGee said he has responded to four calls in the past several weeks and had to remove two snakes from the area.

This story was originally published April 19, 2021 at 1:21 PM with the headline "Rattlesnake bit man who grabbed it with BBQ tongs to protect kids, CA officials say."