yet another one - Page 3

Well Don, I guess you are right that sometimes there are creatures in areas where they should not be, because of human interference, so I will not argue with that.  However, it is highly improbable that this snake in question is not indigenous to that area.

What I am saying is that, 99% of the time, when something like this occurs, it is usually an indigenous creature that belongs in that location and was in that location, probably before humans were.  That's all I am saying.

As a side note along these lines, my youngest son was biten by a "pygmy" rattle snake in the Cleveland area about 1991.  We had just purchased 20 acres of land and were going to build on it.  It was in Ashtabula county, near the PA border, in a small town called Orwell.  Anyway, I had him and a friend of his there, while I was working on putting in a driveway border.  My son was about 100 feet away from me with his friend, in the open field.  He was about ten.  He yelled to me that he had caught a snake and I yelled back to him to let it go.  Then it bit him on his thumb.

To make a long story short, it apparently was a pygmy rattle snake.  The ambulance people stated that rattle snake bites were not uncommon in that area, as many years ago in PA, a tornado or whatever, destroyed a building that housed poisoness snakes that were used for whatever, and many or all excaped.  The snakes have "taken hold" in that area and are now striking persons every once in a while.  In north east Ohio and in eastern Pennsylvania of all places.

My son almost lost his arm but he is fine.  They had to get anti-venom from the Cleveland Zoo and the anti-venom causes almost as much damage to the human body as the snake poison.

I am sure that there are "relatives" of the rattle snake that bit my son, still in that area, breeding.

here's another more detailed article on what happened - http://newsok.com/article/3098884