Days after a copperhead snake bit him, a Rockdale County man got even.
"I call it sweet revenge," Alan DeSandre, 71, said. "Except for the fact that I still have some problems. He still got me."
But Friday, DeSandre fired back, literally. When the 30-inch snake was spotted in his backyard, DeSandre, grabbed his gun.
With a right hand still swollen and sore from the bite he sustained Sunday, DeSandre fired shot after shot at the snake, finally hitting it.
"I didn't want to get close," DeSandre said. "I think I shot it 30 times."
DeSandre said he's certain the snake was the same one that bit him Sunday while he was doing yard work. He had cut the grass and and was trimming fig trees when he disturbed the snake in kudzu.
"All of the sudden it was like a sharp needle or a wasp bite," DeSandre said. "I yanked back and at the same time, the snake flew the other direction."
Bleeding, DeSandre said he ran inside to tell his wife, who called 911. Minutes later, paramedics arrived to take him to Rockdale Medical Center, after confirming the hospital had a supply of anti-venom.
DeSandre spent several hours in the emergency room and then two nights in intensive care before being moved to a regular room Tuesday night, he said. Doctors told DeSandre the anti-venom he received cost around $50,000, but he isn't sure yet how much the hospital stay will cost him out of pocket. He was released from the hospital Thursday evening.
Forty-one types of snakes are present in Georgia, but most are not harmful, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The Savannah River Ecology Lab says that although copperheads are venomous, the poison is not very potent and deaths from copperhead bites are exceedingly rare.
DeSandre says he's seen snakes in his backyard before, but hopes to avoid getting close enough to be bitten again.
At least this time, he got revenge.
About the Author
