FLORIDA TODAY (Melbourne) 30 August 04 Snake-bite victim takes home souvenir (J.D. Gallop and Victor Thompson)

Photo at URL link: Elaina Smith, 10, holds part of the coral snake that bit her on the finger at Wickham Park. Elaina's mom’s friend, Tim Barron, killed the snake with a machete after it bit her. Animal control has the rest of the snake. (Malcolm Denemark)

Melbourne: Elaina Smith isn't afraid of snakes, so when she saw a colorful one that looked a lot like the scarlet king snakes she's handled before, she picked it up.

Big mistake.

"The snake came out of the bathroom wall," 10-year-old Elaina said Monday after returning from an Orlando hospital. "I threw it around, picked it up, it bit me, then I threw it down and stomped on it."

Park officials said the girl was near the concrete-block bathrooms and laundry room about 11:20 a.m. Sunday at campground B in Wickham Park when a coral snake bit the knuckle of her right index finger.

Elaina said she brought the snake over to her mom, Debra, who held the snake down as a friend chopped it in half with a machete.

A call was made to 911, and minutes later the girl was treated by paramedics and flown by helicopter to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. Doctors used an anti-venom to counteract the snake's deadly toxins, which attack the central nervous system.

The snake's bite, if untreated, can lead to paralysis or death.

"She was treated and discharged," said Lisa Crites, spokeswoman for Holmes Regional Medical Center, which keeps a small amount of the anti-venom on hand. After leaving Holmes, the girl was airlifted to Orlando for observation and released from Florida Hospital on Monday.

"It was scary," Debra Smith said of the ordeal. "She had an erratic heart rate and high pulse for a couple of hours."

Elaina, her two older sisters and brother are staying with their mother in campground B, which sits beside a pond surrounded pine trees and winding paths.

Debra Smith said her family, from Melbourne, is living at the park temporarily.

Wickham Park has 88 camp sites with water and electricity and 22 overflow campsites.

Jack Masson, assistant director for Brevard County's Parks and Recreation Department, said the county hasn't had reports of coral snakes at the park, but he urged caution and warned people not to approach any snake.

"Wickham Park is naturally vegetative and there are lots of trees, but if you see a snake, stay clear," he said.

"Coral snakes don't attack from my understanding," Masson said. "From what I'm told, the girl was handling or picking up the snake when she was bitten."

Coral snake venom attacks the central nervous system within minutes and can lead to paralysis or death. It is one of nature's most powerful venoms.

Bites from this snake, whose body has red, yellow and black bands with a black snout, are rare. The snake spends most of its life burrowing in the ground.

Snake-bite victims should immediately call 911.

Use extreme caution when you see a snake. Do not approach it. If the snake you fear is in a public park, contact the appropriate authorities.
Snake-bite victim takes home souvenir

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