SALT LAKE CITY — For a variety of reasons, the number of people in Utah who have been bitten by rattlesnakes is up this spring, and has doubled that of years in the past.
Kassidy Drage was recently bitten by a rattlesnake and lived to tell the tale. She was bit not long after she took off on the Twin Peaks trail, which begins in the Upper Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City.
Drage said she was taking a video of her solo hike when it happened.
“And I actually thought that I had just kind of brushed up against like a Foxtail or something. Then I looked down, and I saw the rattlesnake and that… it was scary," said Drage.
As the snake slithered away, Drage called the person she trusts most.
“I called my dad and then he told me to get to the ER," she shared. "So I hiked down and drove to the ER."
Fortunately, Dr. Alyrene Dorey was on duty, a veteran ER physician and assistant medical Director of the Utah poison control center. Dorey quickly determined there was what’s called an invenimation, with snake venom had entering Kassidy’s system.
That’s when the doctor began anti-venom treatment.
“That will help the patient have a better outcome in the long run. It will have them be back to full, normal activity sooner if they get the anti-venom sooner," explained Dorey.
Dorey confirmed that rattlesnake bites are way up this spring. She said there have already been 17 reported, when there are typically eight or nine this time of year.
Emily Coleman is an avid trail runner who said that news was concerning.
“It is a little scary, yeah. I mostly have only ever heard them on trails, I have never like seen them as much. Definitely scary to hear someone’s been bitten," said Coleman.
In the meantime, Drage said she’s going to commemorate her encounter by adding a new tattoo.
“Yup, a great basin rattlesnake," she said. it’s gonna be sick."
