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October 25, 2005
Right wing reptile lover in Kopperhead Kulturkampf!
While I didn't start this blog to defend unpopular animals (whether pit bulls, alligators, or copperheads) I find myself doing it anyway for two reasons. One is because animals cannot defend themselves, and the less popular the animal, the less likely it is to be defended. The other reason is because inaccurate stories about animals have a way of fueling popular hysteria and mob thinking, while selling newspapers at the same time. The ridiculous alligator stories in the wake of Hurricane Katrina bothered me, because they were cranked out and repeated without any evidence except for an unconfirmed oral account by a musician whose story has been discredited on other grounds. This has not stopped this blogger from trying to revive the alligator meme on the grounds that I am a right wing supporter of Bush -- and a "naysayer": Naysayers, mostly rightwing supporters of Presidunce George Bush, have questioned whether the reports of animals eating the corpses of the NOLA dead were accurate. This article notes coroners discussing what they called a particularly poignant case of a woman's body which had been floating for days and had been knawed on by unknown animals.I can't speak for the legions of rightwing naysayers, but I will repeat my charges: alligators were harmed by Hurricane Katrina, there haven't been any confirmed reports of alligators eating people, and the above WaPo report would actually seem to exonerate the alligator. (Not only do alligators not "gnaw," there are plenty of fish, birds, rodents raccoons, and starving dogs and animals which do.) Considering that alligators have been linked to Bush, and defense of alligators is right wing naysaying, the lowly copperhead would hardly seem worth defending. But I just can't get enough of my right wing naysaying, so here I go again! Although venomous, the copperhead's bite is almost never fatal. It is a beautiful, inoffensive snake which flees and hides as its primary defense. How's this for hiding? The copperhead only bites as a last resort, and it's unfortunate that they are so often killed. In an earlier post, I lamented finding one dead at Valley Forge National Park. Well, now it seems that a male teenager found a live copperhead in the same park and very foolishly took it to his school, where it bit a fellow student: A 17-year-old boy, whom police did not identify, had taken the snake to school after capturing it in Valley Forge National Historical Park on Oct. 15, police said.She was taken to the hospital which administered antivenin. An unusual story involving (IMHO) human carelessness in provoking the snake, but otherwise not terribly dramatic. What got my attention, though, was the headline (which had been highlighted by a special front page teaser): Girl bitten by snake at school could lose her armThis did not compute. One might lose an arm from the untreated bite of a large rattlesnake, but not from a treated bite of a copperhead. As to "confirmation," the Inquirer supplies this: A 14-year-old St. Pius X High School student might lose her right arm after she was bitten by a copperhead snake taken to school by another student, Lower Pottsgrove police said yesterday.Odd, because "the police" are neither doctors nor snake experts. What does "might" mean? Anything "might" happen -- but from what I know about copperheads, the chances of losing an arm under these circumstances are infinitesimal. Annoyed as I was, I didn't write a post about it, as I figured the girl might have suffered some sort of allergic reaction, or that gangrene might have set in. But what a difference a day makes! Because today -- the very next day -- I was treated to another story, of an apparently miraculous recovery, written by a different writer: Girl bitten by snake has left hospitalThe hard copy article had a picture of the girl at a press conference. (Somehow, I don't think the family appreciated seeing the blaring headline that their daughter "could lose her arm.") As news reports go, this is only a minor annoyance. The problem is, there's no copperhead rights lobby. The digital brownshirts are silent. I doubt that a single right wing naysayer will join my struggle. But if I don't speak up, who will? MORE: In the unlikely event that anyone is interested in a serious evaluation of the risks from copperhead bites, a systematic study was done of reported cases in the Carolinas from 1997-2000. (Of 178 people bitten, 79 were admitted to hospitals, 18 were treated with antivenin, zero died, and in only one case did a digit -- not an arm -- require amputation.) I'd be willing to bet that the reason only 18 of the 178 were treated with antivenin is because the risk posed by the antivenin is often greater than the risk from the snakebite: Antivenin, while often the only chance for life many bite victims have, is not without its risks. An equine-derived product, the chance of allergic reaction in recipients is alarmingly high. The most common snake antivenin in the United States is Antivenin (Crotalidae) Polyvalent (ACP) - used for rattlesnake, cottonmouth, and copperhead bites. Derived from horse serum, studies have shown that the chance of acute allergic reaction in a recipient (including anaphylaxis) ranges from 23% to 56%. In cases of only slight envenomation, the risk from the antivenin is higher than the risk from the bite itself - and antivenin will not be administered unless necessary.While loss of life or limb is extremely unlikely, it would nonetheless be a very unpleasant medical emergency to be bitten by a copperhead. (Definitely not a show-and-tell item for kids....) posted by Eric on 10.25.05 at 08:42 AM
Comments
I've always liked snakes. Spiders, too. They kill off pesky insects. Halloween is coming. The Halloween Papers. Boo-hoo-ha-ha-haaaaaaaa! Beware! Beware! I'm a Right-Wing naysayer. I also deny that Americans used germ warfare in Korea, and I deny that Jews were behind the African slave trade or the destruction of the World Trade Center. Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · October 25, 2005 11:31 AM I used to collect snakes in high school. I never paid attention to bite statistics in Louisiana or Arkansas in the early 70's, but you would not have caught me fooling around with any of the crotalids. There really is nothing implausible about losing a limb as a consequence of one of those bites, whether any given reporter knows it or not. Billy Beck · October 25, 2005 06:25 PM |
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Not to be a stickler, but where in that article are coroners "discussing" a "particularly poignant case"? All I saw was one coroner answering a question about a "difficult" case.
I don't know why I am even bothering; your critics seem to find every article "poignant" - the word is used every two sentences! I guess everything about the hurricane is "poignant" to some people.
Usage aside, I also think alligators have gotten a bad rap... but I guess you can't blame guns for everything.