PITTSBORO — “It was rather scary,” said Karen Crowell, recalling the copperhead bite she sustained two years ago.
“And painful,” the Pittsboro resident added. “Incredibly painful.”
Crowell encountered the venomous snake when it became entangled in deer netting she’d erected to protect her garden.
First, she saw the snake, struggling in the netting; then her dog saw it, too, and began to move toward it. Reaching out with her right hand for her dog’s collar to protect her pet from a strike, Crowell became the closer target for the struggling snake.
“It ended up biting me instead of her,” said Crowell, whose right index finger took the hit.
The incident — in addition to the pain of the snakebite, the incident involved an expensive visit to UNC Hospital’s emergency room, where she was administered antivenom costing thousands of dollars — was an unwelcome one, but from it Crowell found out a lot more about snakes, and snakebites, than she’d known before.
“I learned quite a lot about snakes after I was bitten,” she said.
And she learned a bit about what not to do if bitten, including elevating her hand, which she did, believing it would reduce swelling — when instead it hastened the spread of the snake venom through her circulatory system.
“I know a lot more about snakes now,” she said.
Though she hasn’t had any close encounters since, thanks to her experience two years ago Crowell is equipped with more information about avoiding another snakebite: she removed the deer netting around her garden, saying she’d rather the deer enjoy the hostas than risk imperiling an innocent life, including a snake’s; and she takes more precautions now to avoid a repeat incident, including wearing thick rubber boots on her frequent walks in the woods.
Her advice to others, should one encounter a snake?
“Just walk away,” Crowell said. “Don’t try to do anything to get them out of the way. A lot of people get bitten doing that. Your best bet is simply walk away.”
Snakes — and their venomous bites — have gotten a lot of attention this summer. Crowell recently shared her personal snakebite story on a local online forum, part of a lively local discussion on the topic.
And several news outlets have reported recently that venomous snakebites are on the rise in North Carolina. A recent story in The Wall Street Journal noted that in North Carolina and Georgia, snake bites are up 10 percent from a year ago.
The N.C. Poison Control Center, which serves the entire state, “tracks the number of phone calls they receive about venomous snake bites,” said Thomas Hughes, Media Relations/Social Media Strategist with UNC Health Care and UNC School of Medicine. “They say they’ve had a 67 percent increase in calls from January to April.”
But Hughes said the hospitals within the UNC network, including Chatham Hospital in Siler City, haven’t observed any recent uptick in snakebite treatments administered.
“Dr. Warren Perry, who is one of UNC Health Care’s emergency department physicians, looked into this for us,” said Hughes. “He said there is no evidence in our records of an increase in snakebite cases at Chatham Hospital.”
Snakes, however, are ever-present and as more of their natural habitats are developed, experts say, the likelihood of people encountering snakes rises.
Longtime Pittsboro-based developer Ricky Spoon, owner of Ricky Spoon Builders, spends a lot of time outdoors and said he’s actually observed fewer snakes this year than in year’s past.
“I haven’t noticed a lot of snakes this year,” said Spoon. “My wife has seen a few in the yard.”
Likewise, local Extension agent Debbie Roos, a self-professed “snake lover,” said she hasn’t “personally seen an increase in snakes this year.”
But Spoon acknowledges that as people expand their territory with more development, snakes — and other wildlife — have fewer places to go, increasing the odds they’ll encounter more people.
“I’m sure we’re doing it,” Spoon said. “Just like with deer. We’re doing it every day.”
Snakes, confirmed Jeff Beane, collections manager for herpetology with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, “are definitely being displaced, usually destroyed along with their habitats rather than just displaced by the habitat loss. And this undoubtedly leads to a lot of instances of humans encountering them. There are also more humans now than there have ever been before.”
There are not, however, more snakes.
“Most, if not all, snake species are declining overall,” said Beane, “due mostly to habitat loss and fragmentation, but also to other anthropogenic factors such as deliberate persecution, invasive species, etc. A few species may undergo population increases in some areas, for certain periods of time, due to favorable conditions, abundant resources, etc. Populations of most species in nature are cyclical, experiencing fluctuations over time. This time of year — late summer, early fall — in this part of the world, all snake populations undergo a slight increase because this is the time of year that their eggs hatch or their young are born. Populations will then decrease over the next year, until next year’s young are born.”
While there are several species of venomous snakes in central North Carolina — including cottonmouths and rattlesnakes — copperheads, the kind of snake Crowell encountered up-close two summers ago, is the most common in our region.
“In Chatham County, the only one we really have to worry about is the copperhead,” said Roos.
But left alone, Roos said, copperheads aren’t aggressive and “won’t bother anybody.”
And Beane said no snake — copperheads or otherwise — should be feared.
“We should appreciate and respect them,” said Beane, “just as we should all other components of the natural world. Learn about them. Be aware of their presence and their habitats. Become familiar with them. Knowledge and familiarity foster appreciation.”
And, like Crowell does on her walks in the wild, take precautions.
The N.C. Poison Control Center’s website recommends “a few simple steps you can take to decrease your chances of getting bitten by a snake,” which include wearing proper footwear, illuminating after-dark walks outside with a flashlight, and avoiding putting your arms and legs in places you can’t see fully.
Antagonizing a snake in any way, including picking it up or throwing something at it, increases your chances of being bitten, the Poison Control Center advises. “Leave the snake alone,” the website instructs, “stay at least six feet away from it, and give it some space to move. There’s no reason to try to kill it. After all, the environment is still reliant upon snakes to keep rodent populations in check.”
It’s also notable that snake bites are not limited to any particular demographic. Forty percent of NC Poison Control snake bite patients were aged 60 or over or under 18, meaning children and older adults are just as likely to be bitten.
While summer and fall are very active seasons for snakes, we’re approaching the colder months when snake activity will lessen.
“In central North Carolina,” said Beane, “snakes are inactive for most of the winter, which they typically spend underground, below the frost line. They are most active from about March to early November and do not move around much during the colder months.”
Randall Rigsbee can be reached at rigsbee@chathamnr.com.