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KSAT (San Antonio, Texas) 29 September 06 Mother Blames School For Rattlesnake Attack
San Antonio: The mother of an 11-year-old boy said Thursday that school officials were to blame for a rattlesnake attack that injured her 11-year-old.
Erik Kelly and his friends were playing football on the campus of Shephard Middle School last week when the boys started playing with the snake.
"My friend was stepping on it," Kelly said. "And when I went and moved his foot, the snake had jumped back and bit me."
Kelly was rushed to a hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. He has since recovered and is back at school.
But his mother said the incident could have been prevented.
"If there would have been an adult there, they wouldn't have been playing with that snake," said Patricia Kelly. "The adult would have seen it."
But South San Independent School District spokesman Ed Suarez disputed Kelly's accusations.
"I'm sure we're not the first school to ever have a snake," Suarez said. "The school can't possibly cover every scenario."
Suarez also said the school did treat the area with a pesticide and students were alerted to watch out for snakes.
Mother Blames School For Rattlesnake Attack

"My friend was stepping on it," Kelly said. "And when I went and moved his foot, the snake had jumped back and bit me."

The rattlesnake attacked HIM?

Sounds like it was the other way around.

Chad Minter
http://www.envenomated.com
kscom060930@mail.envenomated.com
http://www.envenomated.com

Aside from the fact that the snake was clearly being molested, I have to love the grandiose entitlement of this mother.

Agreed. This mama needs to volunteer for recess duty at the school of her choice, and then rethink her expectations.

rgds,
althea

I haven't ever heard of an anti snake spray, pesticides? If that works, I'm in trouble! My entire family wants me to be rid of this snake I have, you know he's a killer corn!!! lol anyway snake pesticide?

Pesticides are not designed to specifically injure or kill reptiles, most of the pesticides designed for homeowner use are quite safe. They would have no residual effect on reptiles as a contact poison, but a poison is a poison and avoiding contact is advisable. Especially those that are professionally applied, these tend to be quite a bit more potent. Repeated contacts with any poison can cause illness as well as the consumption of prey items that have been exposed at sublethal doses (biological magnification). It really depends on if the product is excreted or stored in tissue.

spray to even get into the minds of my family. I haev enough issues with them wanting, even begging me to get rid of my snake as it lol can't imagine what they would do if they walked into the local walmart and found a snake repellant!!!

thanks for replying......
Izora

Unfortunately, snake-away is sold and while I think it was available at Wally world, it is definitely available at hardware stores. We all know that it doesn't work. It might work on feed prey ( ? how ? ) but is very detrimental to other wildlife and water area plus environment. I remember one of my customers bought the product one time to rid some baby black rat snakes that was a problem in her basement and just wouldn't listen to reason of other ways to safely rid the snakes for her and the snakes. She , of course, still saw them after many treatments of the stuff and even saw the food prey ( wild mice ) stay clear of the product. If you get a chance to find it, read the container. The container has a clause on it that is very contradicting. It states that the product may not be effective on some snakes ? I think the older product had the non-effectiveness on copperheads and others. Hummmm.......
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

That mother and her son need to stand in front of a mirror and blame the person they see in the mirror, not the school. Accept responsibility for their actions. If your child does not obey the rules and does not listen to school authorities, you have a descipline and respect problem that you need to address. If you live in a venemous snake area and your child has not been told to leave the snakes alone, you have failed as a parent. If you have told your child to leave the snakes alone and they ignore this, the child needs a good solid reminder.
I am 50, parent of two, and yes I have a problem with parents that continue to blame the system, the school, and everybody else for their parental failures. When I was about 4 years old my uncle found me playing with matches and burning paper. He sat my ass down, gathered every match in the house, and made me play with them. I had to light every match. I burned my finger tips so many times that you can bet I was done with playing with matches.

As a middle school teacher, all that I can say is...Amen. Parents are so quick to shift the blame of their kids actions from their own to some one else.