(CNN) -- The bodies of a mother and her daughter were retrieved Saturday after a hot-air balloon fire Friday evening in South Surrey, British Columbia, authorities said.
Stephen Pennock, who owns Fantasy Balloon Charters, said 12 passengers were in the balloon's gondola when the fire began. It was still tethered to the ground at a recreational vehicle park.
The pilot and crew helped all but three passengers out before the tether burned through and the balloon started to rise, said John Kageorge, a crew member who was not at the scene.
"The thing went up about 400 feet in the air, at which point it melted enough of the balloon -- it collapsed," said Don Randall, a resident of the RV park, according to The Associated Press.
"The basket was basically a fireball. It just dropped like a stone. I'm just thinking, 'Oh geez, I hope there's nobody in that thing. It's basically a burning death up there,' " Randall told the AP.
One passenger jumped out as the balloon drifted about 100 yards, Kageorge said, and the bodies of the other two were found about midday Saturday, said Yves Portelance, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Watch a report on the fiery crash »
Witnesses said there was a struggle on board as the flames engulfed the basket of the balloon.
"In my mind, I was thinking somebody's dying right now, right this minute, you know, right near me, which is a rather scary thought," Nigel Vonas told CNN.
"It was horrifying," witness Perry Kendall told the AP. "Just looking at people screaming and jumping out of there. Some of them, I think, had fire on their clothes. It was just awful."
Eleven people were injured, but most were treated at a British Columbia hospital and released, Portelance said. The conditions of the others -- including the passenger who jumped -- were not known.
Kageorge said he didn't know how high the balloon drifted. Video taken by someone nearby seemed to show the balloon above treetops.
"The terrain can be deceiving, depending on your vantage point. It's rolling horse country," he said.
Witnesses told the AP that propane tanks fell from the balloon and set fire to three trailers and an unknown number of vehicles. Those fires caused no injuries, AP reported.
Pennock, who suffered a first-degree burn on his arm, called it a "freak fire." He said it would be investigated.
Fantasy Balloon Charters deeply regrets the injuries and damage that occurred in the accident, Pennock said in a written statement. The company's "immediate concern and efforts is to help everyone affected by the very unusual, tragic event," he said.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Rare Tornado Strikes New York
Subway tracks were swamped, buses were overwhelmed and commuter trains were held up for hours because of flooding Wednesday. Some roads became waterways, and one woman was killed in a car accident during the storm. The weather also created problems for the region's airports, where delays of up to an hour were reported, and thousands of people throughout the region lost electricity for part of the day. The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down several times in Staten Island and in Brooklyn, where winds downed trees, tore off roofs and wrapped signs around posts. At least 40 homes were damaged. Tornadoes have hit New York City before, but not often. Much of the mess had been mopped up by early Thursday, but the region faced the possibility of more storms within a day. Wednesday's storm hit just before dawn. By rush hour, pumping stations became overwhelmed, and the subway system was virtually paralyzed. Bedlam resulted from too much rain, too fast; some suburban commuters spent half the day just getting to work. Crews worked feverishly to pump out the subways, but it took until the evening rush hour to get most of the system up to speed
The washout marked the third time in seven months that the subways were disrupted by rain. Metropolitan Transportation Authority engineers were asked to report back to Gov. Eliot Spitzer within 30 days with suggestions about how to deal with the flooding. "One big rain, and it all falls apart," Ruby Russell, 64, said as she sat waiting on a train in Brooklyn around 9 a.m. Wednesday. She had been trying to get to Manhattan for three hours. The National Weather Service said a tropical air mass dumped an extraordinary amount of rain in a short period of time. The most was recorded between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., with 2.5 inches falling on Central Park and almost 3.5 on Kennedy International Airport. Public officials called for improvements in the drainage system after a similar rain-related shutdown in 1999, and the MTA made some changes after another round of paralyzing tunnel floods in 2004, when the remnants of Hurricane Frances washed out the subways for hours.
The washout marked the third time in seven months that the subways were disrupted by rain. Metropolitan Transportation Authority engineers were asked to report back to Gov. Eliot Spitzer within 30 days with suggestions about how to deal with the flooding. "One big rain, and it all falls apart," Ruby Russell, 64, said as she sat waiting on a train in Brooklyn around 9 a.m. Wednesday. She had been trying to get to Manhattan for three hours. The National Weather Service said a tropical air mass dumped an extraordinary amount of rain in a short period of time. The most was recorded between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., with 2.5 inches falling on Central Park and almost 3.5 on Kennedy International Airport. Public officials called for improvements in the drainage system after a similar rain-related shutdown in 1999, and the MTA made some changes after another round of paralyzing tunnel floods in 2004, when the remnants of Hurricane Frances washed out the subways for hours.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Alexithymia
is a term coined by Peter Sifneos in 1973 to describe people who appeared to have deficiencies in understanding, processing, or describing their emotions.
Alexithymia desribes "people who have difficulties recognizing, processing, and regulating emotions". It is a personality trait that places individuals at risk for other medical and psychiatric disorders while reducing the likelihood that these individuals will respond to conventional treatments for the other conditions.[3] Alexithymia is not classified as a mental disorder in the DSM IV. It is a personality trait that varies in severity from person to person. A person's alexithymia score can be measured with questionnaires such as the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ)[4] or the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS).[3]
Alexithymia is is defined by:[5]
(i) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal
(ii) difficulty describing feelings to other people
(iii) constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies
(iv) a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style.
In studies of the general population the degree of alexithymia was found to be influenced by age, but not by gender; the rates of alexithymia in healthy controls have been found at 8.3% (2 of 24 persons) 4.7% (2 of 43), 8.9% (16 of 179), and 7% (4 of 56). Thus, several studies have reported that the prevalence rate of alexithymia is less than 10% in healthy controls.[6] In another study, alexithymia was found to be approximately 13% of the population, with men (17%) almost twice as likely to be affected as women (10%).[7] The alexithymia construct is strongly inversely related to the concepts of psychological mindedness[8] and emotional intelligence[9][10] and M. Bagby and G. Taylor state that there is there is "strong empirical support for alexithymia being a stable personality trait rather than just a consequence of psychological distress".[11] Other opinions differ and can show evidence that it may be state-dependent.[12]
Objections have been raised to the methodology used, in particular that studies have been applied to clinical populations without correcting for the prevalence of depression in those populations.[citation needed]
Bagby, Parker and Taylor also suggest that there may be two kinds of alexithymia, 'primary alexithymia' which is an enduring psychological trait which does not alter over time, and 'secondary alexithymia' which is state dependent and disappears after the evoking stressful situation has changed. These two manifestations of alexithymia are otherwise called 'trait' or 'state' alexithymia.[13]
Typical deficiencies may include problems identifying, describing, and working with one's own feelings, often marked by a lack of understanding of the feelings of others; difficulty distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal;[1] confusion of physical sensations often associated with emotions; few dreams or fantasies due to restricted imagination; and concrete, realistic, logical thinking, often to the exclusion of emotional responses to problems. Those who have alexithymia also report very logical and realistic dreams, such as going to the store or eating a meal.[citation needed]
Some alexithymic individuals may appear to contradict the above mentioned characteristics because they can experience chronic dysphoria or manifest outbursts of crying or rage.[14][15][16] However, questioning usually reveals that they are quite incapable of describing their feelings or appear confused by questions inquiring about specifics of feelings.[5] Clinical experience suggests it is the structural features of dreams more than the ability to recall them that best characterizes alexithymia.[1]
According to Henry Krystal, individuals suffering from alexithymia think in an operative way and may appear to be superadjusted to reality. In psychotherapy, however, a cognitive disturbance becomes apparent as the patients tends to recount trivial, chronologically ordered actions, reactions, and events of daily life with monotonous detail.[17][page # needed] In general, these individuals lack imagination, intuition, empathy, and drive-fulfillment fantasy, especially in relation to objects. Instead, they seem oriented toward things and even treat themselves as robots. These problems seriously limit their responsiveness to psychoanalytic psychotherapy; psychosomatic illness or substance abuse is frequently exacerbated should these individuals enter psychotherapy.[18][page # needed]
A common misconception about alexithymia is that victims of this construct are totally unable to express emotions verbally and that they may even fail to acknowledge that they experience emotions. Even before coining the term, Sifneos (1967) noted patients often mentioned things like anxiety or depression. The distinguishing factor was their inability to elaborate beyond a few limited adjectives used to describe these feelings. The core issue is that alexithymics have poorly differentiated emotions limiting their ability to distinguish and describe them to others.[1] This contributes to the sense of emotional detachment from themselves and difficulty connecting with others that is typical of the alexithymic's experience.[citation needed]
[edit] Relational issues
According to Vanheule, Desmet and Meganck (2006) alexithymia creates interpersonal problems because these individuals avoid emotionally close relationships, or that if they do form relationships with others they tend to position themselves as either dependent or impersonal, "such that the relationship remains superficial."[19] Inadequate differentiation between self and other by alexithymic individuals has been observed by Blaustein & Tuber (1998) and Taylor et al (1997).[20][page # needed]
In a study, a large group of alexithymic individuals completed the 64-item Inventory of Interpersonal problems (IIP-64 which screens for:[19]
(a) Domineering/Controlling, indicating difficulties relinquishing control over others;
(b) Vindictive/Self-Centered behaviour, which describes problems of hostile dominance and the tendency to fight with others;
(c) Cold/Distant behaviour, which refers to low degrees of affection for and connection with others;
(d) Socially Inhibited, which assesses the tendency to feel anxious and avoidant in the presence of others;
(e) Non-Assertiveness, which measures problems in taking initiative in relation to others and coping with social challenges;
(f) Overly Accommodating, which indicates an excess of friendly submissiveness;
(g) Self-Sacrificing, which indicates a tendency to affiliate excessively; and
(h) Intrusive/Needy, which describes problems with friendly dominance.
The study found that alexithymic individuals "had significantly higher scores on all IIP-64 subscales than did the nonclinical sample."[19]
Chaotic interpersonal relations have also been observed by Sifneos.[21] Due to the inherent difficulties identifying and describing emotional states in self and others, alexithymia also negatively effects relationship satisfaction between couples.[22]
[edit] In medical and psychiatric illness
Alexithymia frequently co-occurs with other disorders, with a representative prevalence of 85% in autistic spectrum disorders,[23] 40% in posttraumatic stress disorder,[24] 63% in anorexia nervosa and 56% in bulimia,[25] 45% in major depressive disorder,[12] 34% in panic disorder,[26] and 50% in substance abusers.[27]
Research indicates that alexithymia overlaps with Asperger syndrome. In a 2004 study, Uta Frith reports that not only does this overlap exist, but that at least half of the Asperger syndrome group obtained such extreme scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) that "they would have been classified as severely impaired."[28] Fitzgerald & Bellgrove pointed out that, "Like Alexithymia, Asperger’s syndrome is also characterised by core disturbances in speech and language and social relationships".[29] Hill & Berthoz agreed with Fitzgerald & Bellgrove (2006) and in response stated that "there is some form of overlap between alexithymia and ASDs".[30] They also pointed to studies that revealed impaired Theory of Mind skill in alexithymia, neuroanatomical evidence pointing to a shared aetiology and similar social skills deficits etc.
Alexithymia involves higher risk of developing certain personality disorders,[31] and is correlated with particular illnesses, such as hypertension,[32] inflammatory bowel disease,[33] functional dyspepsia,[34] sexual disorders,[35] substance use disorders,[36][37] and some anxiety disorders.[38] Alexithymia is further linked with psychosomatic disorders such as migraine headaches, lower back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, nausea, allergy, and fibromyalgia.[39]
An inability to modulate emotions is a possibility in explaining why some alexithymics are prone to discharge tension arising from unpleasant emotional states through impulsive acts or compulsive behaviors such as binge eating,[40] substance abuse,[41] perverse sexual behavior, or the self-starvation of anorexia nervosa.[40] The failure to regulate emotions cognitively might result in prolonged elevations of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and neuroendocrine systems which can lead to somatic diseases.[39] Alexithymics also show a limited ability to experience positive emotions leading Krystal (1988) and Sifneos (1987) to describe many of these individuals as anhedonic.[2]
[edit] Etiology
According to Joyce McDougall all infants are born unable to identify, organize, and speak about their emotional experiences (the word infans is from the Latin "not speaking"), and are "by reason of their immaturity inevitably alexithymic".[42] Based on this fact McDougall writes, "Might it not be supposed that the alexithymic part of an adult personality is an extremely arrested and infantile psychic structure?"[42]
It is unclear what causes alexithymia. Some neuropsychological studies indicate that alexithymia may be due to a disturbance to the right hemisphere of the brain, which is largely responsible for processing emotions.[43] Other studies show evidence that there may be an interhemispheric transfer deficit among alexithymics; that is, the emotional information from the right hemisphere is not being properly transferred to the language regions in the left hemisphere, as can be caused by a decreased corpus callosum, often present in psychiatric patients who have suffered severe childhood abuse.[44] In addition, another neuropsychological model suggests that alexithymia may be related to a dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex.[45] These studies have some shortcomings, however, and the empirical evidence about the causes of alexithymia remain inconclusive.[46]
Although physiological effects are important to determine, one must remember the first language of an infant is nonverbal facial expressions. The mother's emotional state is important for determining how any child might develop. Neglect or indifference to varying changes in a child's facial expressions without proper feedback can promote an invalidation of the facial expressions manifested by the child. The parents ability to reflect self-awareness to the child is another important factor. If the adult is incapable of recognizing and distinguishing emotional expressions in the child, it can influence the child's capacity to understand emotional expressions.[1] Moreover, if a parent responds with apathy, indifference, or anger to a child's natural range of emotions, the child will learn not to trust their feelings and over time may become conditioned to numb themselves to the experiences of their emotions.
Alexithymia desribes "people who have difficulties recognizing, processing, and regulating emotions". It is a personality trait that places individuals at risk for other medical and psychiatric disorders while reducing the likelihood that these individuals will respond to conventional treatments for the other conditions.[3] Alexithymia is not classified as a mental disorder in the DSM IV. It is a personality trait that varies in severity from person to person. A person's alexithymia score can be measured with questionnaires such as the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ)[4] or the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS).[3]
Alexithymia is is defined by:[5]
(i) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal
(ii) difficulty describing feelings to other people
(iii) constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies
(iv) a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style.
In studies of the general population the degree of alexithymia was found to be influenced by age, but not by gender; the rates of alexithymia in healthy controls have been found at 8.3% (2 of 24 persons) 4.7% (2 of 43), 8.9% (16 of 179), and 7% (4 of 56). Thus, several studies have reported that the prevalence rate of alexithymia is less than 10% in healthy controls.[6] In another study, alexithymia was found to be approximately 13% of the population, with men (17%) almost twice as likely to be affected as women (10%).[7] The alexithymia construct is strongly inversely related to the concepts of psychological mindedness[8] and emotional intelligence[9][10] and M. Bagby and G. Taylor state that there is there is "strong empirical support for alexithymia being a stable personality trait rather than just a consequence of psychological distress".[11] Other opinions differ and can show evidence that it may be state-dependent.[12]
Objections have been raised to the methodology used, in particular that studies have been applied to clinical populations without correcting for the prevalence of depression in those populations.[citation needed]
Bagby, Parker and Taylor also suggest that there may be two kinds of alexithymia, 'primary alexithymia' which is an enduring psychological trait which does not alter over time, and 'secondary alexithymia' which is state dependent and disappears after the evoking stressful situation has changed. These two manifestations of alexithymia are otherwise called 'trait' or 'state' alexithymia.[13]
Typical deficiencies may include problems identifying, describing, and working with one's own feelings, often marked by a lack of understanding of the feelings of others; difficulty distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal;[1] confusion of physical sensations often associated with emotions; few dreams or fantasies due to restricted imagination; and concrete, realistic, logical thinking, often to the exclusion of emotional responses to problems. Those who have alexithymia also report very logical and realistic dreams, such as going to the store or eating a meal.[citation needed]
Some alexithymic individuals may appear to contradict the above mentioned characteristics because they can experience chronic dysphoria or manifest outbursts of crying or rage.[14][15][16] However, questioning usually reveals that they are quite incapable of describing their feelings or appear confused by questions inquiring about specifics of feelings.[5] Clinical experience suggests it is the structural features of dreams more than the ability to recall them that best characterizes alexithymia.[1]
According to Henry Krystal, individuals suffering from alexithymia think in an operative way and may appear to be superadjusted to reality. In psychotherapy, however, a cognitive disturbance becomes apparent as the patients tends to recount trivial, chronologically ordered actions, reactions, and events of daily life with monotonous detail.[17][page # needed] In general, these individuals lack imagination, intuition, empathy, and drive-fulfillment fantasy, especially in relation to objects. Instead, they seem oriented toward things and even treat themselves as robots. These problems seriously limit their responsiveness to psychoanalytic psychotherapy; psychosomatic illness or substance abuse is frequently exacerbated should these individuals enter psychotherapy.[18][page # needed]
A common misconception about alexithymia is that victims of this construct are totally unable to express emotions verbally and that they may even fail to acknowledge that they experience emotions. Even before coining the term, Sifneos (1967) noted patients often mentioned things like anxiety or depression. The distinguishing factor was their inability to elaborate beyond a few limited adjectives used to describe these feelings. The core issue is that alexithymics have poorly differentiated emotions limiting their ability to distinguish and describe them to others.[1] This contributes to the sense of emotional detachment from themselves and difficulty connecting with others that is typical of the alexithymic's experience.[citation needed]
[edit] Relational issues
According to Vanheule, Desmet and Meganck (2006) alexithymia creates interpersonal problems because these individuals avoid emotionally close relationships, or that if they do form relationships with others they tend to position themselves as either dependent or impersonal, "such that the relationship remains superficial."[19] Inadequate differentiation between self and other by alexithymic individuals has been observed by Blaustein & Tuber (1998) and Taylor et al (1997).[20][page # needed]
In a study, a large group of alexithymic individuals completed the 64-item Inventory of Interpersonal problems (IIP-64 which screens for:[19]
(a) Domineering/Controlling, indicating difficulties relinquishing control over others;
(b) Vindictive/Self-Centered behaviour, which describes problems of hostile dominance and the tendency to fight with others;
(c) Cold/Distant behaviour, which refers to low degrees of affection for and connection with others;
(d) Socially Inhibited, which assesses the tendency to feel anxious and avoidant in the presence of others;
(e) Non-Assertiveness, which measures problems in taking initiative in relation to others and coping with social challenges;
(f) Overly Accommodating, which indicates an excess of friendly submissiveness;
(g) Self-Sacrificing, which indicates a tendency to affiliate excessively; and
(h) Intrusive/Needy, which describes problems with friendly dominance.
The study found that alexithymic individuals "had significantly higher scores on all IIP-64 subscales than did the nonclinical sample."[19]
Chaotic interpersonal relations have also been observed by Sifneos.[21] Due to the inherent difficulties identifying and describing emotional states in self and others, alexithymia also negatively effects relationship satisfaction between couples.[22]
[edit] In medical and psychiatric illness
Alexithymia frequently co-occurs with other disorders, with a representative prevalence of 85% in autistic spectrum disorders,[23] 40% in posttraumatic stress disorder,[24] 63% in anorexia nervosa and 56% in bulimia,[25] 45% in major depressive disorder,[12] 34% in panic disorder,[26] and 50% in substance abusers.[27]
Research indicates that alexithymia overlaps with Asperger syndrome. In a 2004 study, Uta Frith reports that not only does this overlap exist, but that at least half of the Asperger syndrome group obtained such extreme scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) that "they would have been classified as severely impaired."[28] Fitzgerald & Bellgrove pointed out that, "Like Alexithymia, Asperger’s syndrome is also characterised by core disturbances in speech and language and social relationships".[29] Hill & Berthoz agreed with Fitzgerald & Bellgrove (2006) and in response stated that "there is some form of overlap between alexithymia and ASDs".[30] They also pointed to studies that revealed impaired Theory of Mind skill in alexithymia, neuroanatomical evidence pointing to a shared aetiology and similar social skills deficits etc.
Alexithymia involves higher risk of developing certain personality disorders,[31] and is correlated with particular illnesses, such as hypertension,[32] inflammatory bowel disease,[33] functional dyspepsia,[34] sexual disorders,[35] substance use disorders,[36][37] and some anxiety disorders.[38] Alexithymia is further linked with psychosomatic disorders such as migraine headaches, lower back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, nausea, allergy, and fibromyalgia.[39]
An inability to modulate emotions is a possibility in explaining why some alexithymics are prone to discharge tension arising from unpleasant emotional states through impulsive acts or compulsive behaviors such as binge eating,[40] substance abuse,[41] perverse sexual behavior, or the self-starvation of anorexia nervosa.[40] The failure to regulate emotions cognitively might result in prolonged elevations of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and neuroendocrine systems which can lead to somatic diseases.[39] Alexithymics also show a limited ability to experience positive emotions leading Krystal (1988) and Sifneos (1987) to describe many of these individuals as anhedonic.[2]
[edit] Etiology
According to Joyce McDougall all infants are born unable to identify, organize, and speak about their emotional experiences (the word infans is from the Latin "not speaking"), and are "by reason of their immaturity inevitably alexithymic".[42] Based on this fact McDougall writes, "Might it not be supposed that the alexithymic part of an adult personality is an extremely arrested and infantile psychic structure?"[42]
It is unclear what causes alexithymia. Some neuropsychological studies indicate that alexithymia may be due to a disturbance to the right hemisphere of the brain, which is largely responsible for processing emotions.[43] Other studies show evidence that there may be an interhemispheric transfer deficit among alexithymics; that is, the emotional information from the right hemisphere is not being properly transferred to the language regions in the left hemisphere, as can be caused by a decreased corpus callosum, often present in psychiatric patients who have suffered severe childhood abuse.[44] In addition, another neuropsychological model suggests that alexithymia may be related to a dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex.[45] These studies have some shortcomings, however, and the empirical evidence about the causes of alexithymia remain inconclusive.[46]
Although physiological effects are important to determine, one must remember the first language of an infant is nonverbal facial expressions. The mother's emotional state is important for determining how any child might develop. Neglect or indifference to varying changes in a child's facial expressions without proper feedback can promote an invalidation of the facial expressions manifested by the child. The parents ability to reflect self-awareness to the child is another important factor. If the adult is incapable of recognizing and distinguishing emotional expressions in the child, it can influence the child's capacity to understand emotional expressions.[1] Moreover, if a parent responds with apathy, indifference, or anger to a child's natural range of emotions, the child will learn not to trust their feelings and over time may become conditioned to numb themselves to the experiences of their emotions.
Beheaded rattlesnake sends man to hospital
PROSSER, Wash. - Turns out, even beheaded rattlesnakes can be dangerous.
That’s what 53-year-old Danny Anderson learned as he was feeding his horses Monday night, when a 5-foot rattler slithered onto his central Washington property, about 50 miles southeast of Yakima.
Anderson and his 27-year-old son, Benjamin, pinned the snake with an irrigation pipe and cut off its head with a shovel. A few more strikes to the head left it sitting under a pickup truck.
“When I reached down to pick up the head, it raised around and did a backflip almost, and bit my finger,” Anderson said. “I had to shake my hand real hard to get it to let loose.”
Venom was spreadingHis wife insisted they go to the hospital, and by the time they arrived at Prosser Memorial Hospital 10 minutes later, Anderson’s tongue was swollen and the venom was spreading. He then was taken by ambulance 30 miles to a Richland hospital to get the full series of six shots he needed.
The snake head ended up in the bed of his pickup, and Anderson landed in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon.
Mike Livingston, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, said the area where the Anderson’s live is near prime snake habitat. But he said he had never heard of anyone being bit by a decapitated snake before.
“That’s really surprising but that’s an important thing to tell people,” he said. “It may have been just a reflex on the part of the snake.”
If another rattlesnake comes along, Anderson said he’ll likely try to kill it again, but said he’ll grab a shovel and bury it right there.
“It still gives me the creeps to think that son-of-a-gun could do that,” he said.
That’s what 53-year-old Danny Anderson learned as he was feeding his horses Monday night, when a 5-foot rattler slithered onto his central Washington property, about 50 miles southeast of Yakima.
Anderson and his 27-year-old son, Benjamin, pinned the snake with an irrigation pipe and cut off its head with a shovel. A few more strikes to the head left it sitting under a pickup truck.
“When I reached down to pick up the head, it raised around and did a backflip almost, and bit my finger,” Anderson said. “I had to shake my hand real hard to get it to let loose.”
Venom was spreadingHis wife insisted they go to the hospital, and by the time they arrived at Prosser Memorial Hospital 10 minutes later, Anderson’s tongue was swollen and the venom was spreading. He then was taken by ambulance 30 miles to a Richland hospital to get the full series of six shots he needed.
The snake head ended up in the bed of his pickup, and Anderson landed in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon.
Mike Livingston, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, said the area where the Anderson’s live is near prime snake habitat. But he said he had never heard of anyone being bit by a decapitated snake before.
“That’s really surprising but that’s an important thing to tell people,” he said. “It may have been just a reflex on the part of the snake.”
If another rattlesnake comes along, Anderson said he’ll likely try to kill it again, but said he’ll grab a shovel and bury it right there.
“It still gives me the creeps to think that son-of-a-gun could do that,” he said.
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