Beaver County man dies from rattlesnake bite

Davis was sitting around a family campfire in Elk County at the time.

According to the Armstrong County coroner, 39-year-old Russell Davis died early Sunday after being bitten Saturday night while camping in Elk County, Pennsylvania, with his girlfriend.

While en route, Mr. Davis began to have severe breathing problems, Mr. Myers said. He was taken by private vehicle to meet the ambulance due to Acute Respiratory Distress.

Penn Highlands personnel reported that an anti-venom treatment was given to Davis before he was transported to a hospital in Pittsburg for additional treatment. The helicopter then landed at ACMH Hospital in Kittanning where he was pronounced dead by Armstrong County Coroner Brian K. Myers.

He said snakebite deaths in the wild were extremely rare in the state.

Urban said Elk County was known for its large timber rattlesnake population.

Timber rattlesnakes are the most common of the two types of rattlesnakes usually found in Pennsylvania. The cure for a poisonous snakebite is anti-venom, which is kept in stock at many hospitals, he said.

The coroner ruled Davis’ cause of death as an anaphylactic reaction to a venomous snake bite. They will not perform an autopsy on the victim.

Only about five people die each year from venomous snakes across the country, among a total of 7,000 to 8,000 bites. “I don’t know where on his body the bite was, or what other health conditions he might have had”, Ray Bamrick, the lead reptile keeper for the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, told KDKA-TV.

“You don’t use constriction bands or tourniquets”.