Outdoor Adventures

[ksquared]

The timber rattlesnake! That was the other one...

07/18/03 - Posted 11:53:15 PM from the Daily Record newsroom

Venomous snake bites woman in Jefferson
By Rob Jennings, Daily Record

JEFFERSON -- While walking along Longwood Lake Road with her dog, Julie Balz stepped on a small pile of leaves.

The leaves moved.

A venomous copperhead snake sunk its two fangs into the 40-year-old woman's left ankle and wouldn't let go, according to her father-in-law, Robert Balz.

"I guess the snake was sleeping. She stepped on it," Balz said after speaking with Julie Balz at St. Clare's/Denville Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

The frightening incident happened at 8:27 p.m. Monday, Police Capt. Bruce Sibel said. Hearing screams, neighbors rushed to her aid and killed the snake, Balz said.

Julie Balz was first taken to St. Clare's/Dover Hospital, where doctors administered serum to counter the snake's venom.

"She feels terrible," Balz said. "From her ankle, all the way up to her hip, is swollen. Her ankle is maybe 10 inches around."

Two days after the rare attack -- the Dover hospital treats fewer than one poisonous snakebite per year -- Balz was recovering but still in great pain, her father-in-law said. A hospital spokesman said she was in good condition.

Of 24 species of snake in New Jersey, only two are poisonous -- the copperhead and the timber rattlesnake, both found in northwestern New Jersey. The copperhead, which may grow to three feet in length, favors the kind of rocky, mountainous terrain found in Jefferson.

Bonnie Metzger, captain of the Milton First Aid Squad, said the snake that bit Balz was a copperhead. The rescue squad member who transported Balz to the hospital Monday night and the police officer at the scene did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Each year, approximately 7,000 venomous snakebites and 15 deaths are reported in the United States, according to figures provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In about 3,000 cases, bites happen as the victim is handling or otherwise provoking the snake, according to the CDC. Most bites occur below the knee.

Dr. Oliver Hung, an emergency room physician at Morristown Memorial Hospital, said he couldn't recall a fatal snakebite in New Jersey. The venom of poisonous snakes in New Jersey is less potent than snakes found elsewhere, like the coral snake.

"I don't think there's anything (Balz) could have done," Hung said. "If you step on a snake, it's going to bite you."

Snakebite serum counters the snake's venom. With a copperhead bite, Hung said, a primary concern would be to prevent local tissue damage.

Unfortunately, the serum can't save a snakebite victim from considerable agony. Parker Space, vice president of the Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Sussex and a local snake expert, said a single drop of snake venom "is, on a pain level, equivalent to 40 bee stings."

Space Farms Zoo is home to a number of snakes, including the venomous copperhead.

Last year, a copperhead bit a Frankford man on the finger as he was picking up a tarp on his lawn, Space said.

Morris and Sussex residents are more frequently bitten by non-poisonous snakes, such as the water snake, that cause no real harm other than a great amount of fright. Space said victims often assume they've been bitten by a poisonous snake.

"A non-poisonous snakebite is not much different than poking your finger through a screen door," he said.

At the Denville hospital on Wednesday, Julie Balz was given ice packs, shots and intravenous medication, Robert Balz said. Doctors told her she could expect to spend up to a week in the hospital.

Balz said his daughter-in-law was grateful that her injuries weren't worse. Her husband and son have been keeping her company at the hospital, he added.

"She said, 'Thank God I wasn't in the woods -- They never would have gotten to me in time,'" Balz said.

Family members were stunned by the attack.

"They've been walking the dog there forever," Balz said.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news1-snake18.htm