THE GAZETTE (Colorado Springs, Colorado) 01 May 07 Some sunny days have teeth - District judge bitten by rattlesnake on bike ride through park (Dennis Huspeni)
A district judge and a rattlesnake had the same idea Saturday — to get into a city park and enjoy the sun.
The snake might have enjoyed the rest of his day, but Chief 4th Judicial District Judge Kirk Samelson ended up in the hospital with a snakebite to the leg.
He also found out that sometimes rattlesnakes don’t give any warning before striking.
“The snake had it wrong,” Samelson said from home Monday, after being released from the hospital. “It bit first, then rattled.”
Samelson was mountain biking in Ute Valley Park, southeast of Centennial Boulevard and Vindicator Drive, when he stepped off his bike to climb a steep hill.
“It felt like something knocked against my leg, or I hit a rock,” Samelson said. “I looked down and realized right away what it was.”
Samelson called his wife on a cell phone and then biked down to the trailhead to meet her. She took him to the hospital.
He said it didn’t hurt right away, but after about an hour he began suffering venom-poisoning symptoms: tingling fingers, lips and nose, a tightening in the chest, nausea and sweating.
“After about an hour and a half, the pain was real bad,” Samelson said.
Dr. Will Fry, trauma director for Penrose Main Hospital, said the emergency room sees a couple of snakebite victims every year. Snakes don’t always inject venom, but they often do.
Most people bitten by rattlesnakes don’t die.
“You can get pretty darn sick,” Fry said.
Venom causes muscles to swell, and that can damage blood vessels if the pressure is too great, Fry said.
This is the time of year when snakes become active, said Michael Seraphin, spokesman for the Division of Wildlife. Rattlers typically begin leaving their winter dens in April.
There are about two dozen species of snakes in Colorado; only two, the Western rattlesnake and the massasauga, are venomous. The massasauga is found in the far southeast corner of Colorado, while the Western rattler is found across the state below 9,000 feet.
Roughly 8,000 venomous snakebites occur in the U.S. each year. About a dozen fatalities are reported annually, most the result of rattlesnake bites.
Samelson said he should have been watching closer, but the snake blended well into its surroundings.
“There was no warning,” he said. “Not this time.”
Samelson said the snake appeared to be sunning on a rock when it bit him.
“There was a little panic,” he said. “But I was honestly not worried about dying — I had heard enough rattlesnake stories.”
Doctors gave him three doses of anti-venom medicine, Samelson said, but his leg is still swollen to about twice its normal size. It will take up to two weeks for the swelling to go down.
He said he’ll likely be out of court at least the rest of this week.
District judge bitten by rattlesnake on bike ride through park