MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 08 October 13 Man bitten by rattlesnake in Broward County while helping turtle cross I-75 (Gustavo Solis)
A man who helped a stranded turtle cross Interstate 75 on Tuesday was bitten by a rattlesnake.
The bite happened sometime before 1:20 p.m. on I-75 near Interstate 595, said Michelle Fayed, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
The man was bitten by the venomous Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake as he placed the turtle into the grass by the roadside. A friend immediately drove him to Memorial Regional Hospital.
“They were very smart in going to the hospital,” Fayed said.
The man, 24, has not been identified. He was being treated in the intensive care unit by the hospital and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s venom response unit.
The Eastern Diamondback species can inject as much as 800 milligrams of venom in a single bite. It takes only 70 milligrams to affect the human body. It’s unclear how much the snake injected.
As of late Tuesday, the venom was affecting only the man’s left arm.
He was being treated with antivenin.
This is the second rattlesnake bite in less than two weeks.
On Sept. 28, a ranger at Everglades National Park was bitten while trying to remove a snake from a storage closet.
He was airlifted to Homestead Baptist Hospital for treatment and is on the mend.
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