RAPID CITY JOURNAL (S Dakota) 13 August 08 Bike path rattlesnake puts bite into foot traffic (Kevin Woster)
Jim Anderson didn’t see the rattlesnake before it struck. But he sure felt the pain.
“I thought I got bit by a bee,” the 33-year-old state environmental engineer from Rapid City said Wednesday. “And when we turned around, the snake started rattling, then slithered off the path.”
That’s the bike path, by the way, the one that runs through the heart of Rapid City along Rapid Creek. Anderson was struck in the left leg by a prairie rattlesnake as he and a friend walked the bike path near the Abourezk Law Office at about 10 a.m., July 25.
He doesn’t know where the snake was, because he wasn’t paying attention to the path ahead.
“I probably wasn’t watching where I was stepping,” Anderson said. “And the next thing I knew, I felt that pain.”
The snake struck through Anderson’s blue jeans and injected enough venom that he was already in pain and feeling sick by the time he and his friend reached their vehicle eight minutes later.
“Almost immediately, my mouth started to go numb. In a few minutes, my whole body was feeling kind of numb,” he said.
Anderson said he was “feeling pretty delirious” with pain and swelling and other symptoms by the time they reached the Rapid City Regional Hospital emergency department. He received antivenin and other medical treatment, and spent two days in the hospital.
And his experience, plus additional reports of snake sightings in the area, prompted the city to erect warning signs along the stretch of the bike path near where Anderson was struck. City parks division manager Lon Van Deusen said it there are signs near the Executive Golf Course, in Founder’s Park near the sand volleyball courts, at the bicycle-jump course just off the path near where Anderson was struck, as well as on the recreational trails up on Cowboy Hill.
“I’m not a snake expert, but they seem to come down off of Cowboy Hill, M-Hill, up in there,” Van Deusen said. “One or our employees spotted on by Founder’s Park coming to work one morning earlier this summer. I don’t know if that’s prime habitat for them. We just thought it would be a good idea to alert people.”
Terry Phillip, reptile curator at the Reptile Gardens tourist attraction south of Rapid City, said the warning signs are a good idea in a town where rattlesnakes can and do appear just about anywhere. Although snake bites are unusual in town, rattlesnakes are not, Phillip said.
That’s especially true in semi-wild areas such as Cowboy Hill and its surroundings.
“There’s plenty of them up in there,” he said. “It’s relatively undisturbed. The habitat is quite suitable for them. And I’d assume quite likely that there’s a den site there somewhere.”
But all of Rapid City is in rattlesnake country, Phillip said. The fact that so few are seen by people is proof that the snakes don’t want encounters with humans any more than humans want encounters with snakes.
“They’re obviously very secretive. They’ don’t want to be seen,” he said.
On a typically hot summer day, rattlesnakes will stay in cool shade and protective cover – under a rock or ledge or bush, or in thick vegetation -- to regulate their body temperatures and hide from predators. They’re more active when they come out to hunt at night – rodents -- and most likely to be seen early and late in the day, Phillip said.
“And, of course, that’s when people are out doing their jogging and biking and things,” he said. “I’m actually quite surprised we don’t get more reports.”
Asphalt and concrete paths and sidewalks can be warm places for snakes to lie early in the day, Phillip said. As the sun gets higher and the temperature rises, they’ll usually head for cover, he said.
Phillips said its best to let them go. Given a wide birth, rattlers will typically slither to safety and away from people, he said.
“If you see one on the bike path, just go around it and completely leave it alone,” he said.
Anderson inadvertently got too close, and ended up headed for the hospital. He’s feeling better now but hasn’t recovered completely.
“I still have a little swelling left and some movement issues with my ankle,” he said. “I’m glad they put those warning signs up. I’d hate to think of this happening to a little kid. I’m a pretty big guy, and it pretty much knocked me flat.”
Bike path rattlesnake puts bite into foot traffic

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