Ranger: Snake bite was bogus

A riled rattler didn’t bite five times, nor even once.

Reports that had circulated for two days about a man being bitten by a timber rattlesnake just off the Blue Ridge Parkway turned out to be bogus, a park official said Thursday after investigating the incident.

A 48-year-old man whom authorities still have not identified made the claim, and officials, emergency responders and witnesses repeated it in newspaper stories and television reports.

But ...

“Based on information developed in our investigation, on the scene and speaking to folks, things are not pointing toward snake envenomization,” Ridge District Ranger Kurt Speers said.

Rescuers found the man lying semi-conscious in the Dripping Rock area near milemarker 9 on the parkway Tuesday afternoon. A passerby told authorities the man had been bitten five times by a timber rattler, information later passed on to another man who photographed the victim being airlifted to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.

But ...

“It does not look like snakes were involved,” Speers said, adding that he has concluded an investigation into the incident.

No charges are expected. Speers would not say what provoked the man to make the false report.

Claims that the man had been bitten five times raised eyebrows among experts, who said timber rattlers are reclusive and unlikely to bite more than once or twice unless attempts are being made to catch the reptile.

“Given the numbers of snakes up here, we have very few incidents of envenomization,” Speers said.

Rattler venom can be lethal. Roughly 7,000 people are bitten by snakes each year, and an average of about five of those cases prove fatal, according to federal statistics.

Bob Stuart contributed to this report.