A spring spike in rattlesnake run-ins across California has logged another victim. A woman hiking in Santa Barbara County on Sunday reported being bitten on the ankle, prompting firefighters to carry her off the trail and send her to a nearby hospital, officials told SFGate. Per the Montecito Fire Department, the woman didn't have enough of a signal to call 911, but she was able to text someone, who then contacted first responders. The victim's condition hasn't been released. The rattlesnake bite is the seventh in Southern California over the past six weeks, per KTLA, two of them fatal—an unusually high toll in the US, which nationwide typically sees only five snakebite deaths of any kind annually.
Scientists say the snakes aren't multiplying so much as showing up early, per SFGate. Unseasonably warm March weather appears to have pulled rattlesnakes out of winter dens weeks ahead of schedule, with males searching for mates and all of them hunting food. Call volume backs that up: One Central Coast rattlesnake hotline logged roughly 40 calls in March to relocate snakes, instead of the usual one or two, and California Poison Control has already tallied 77 rattlesnake bite calls this year.
Experts stress that fatal bites remain rare and encounters are almost always accidental. Their advice: Stick to clear trails, stay away from tall grass, wear boots and long pants, keep your phone charged—and remember that the snakes would generally rather hide than strike. "When they see us, their heart rate goes up and their first instinct is to not move and hope that we don't see them," a rattlesnake expert tells SFGate. "Once they realize we might be approaching them, then they're going to defend themselves, but only as a measure of last resort."
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