World

Blimey, beheaded snake bites rancher

by ryan | August 10, 2007 at 06:55 am

1428 views | 20 Recommendations | 3 comments

I've heard of a chicken running around with it's head cut off off, but a rattlesnake biting someone after being beheaded is just freaky. And as this rancher said,

It still gives me the creeps to think that son-of-a gun could to that"

And here's the story,

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 more than a metre-long rattler slithered onto his central Washington property, about 80 kilometres southeast of Yakima.

Mr. 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,” Mr. Anderson said. “I had to shake my hand real hard to get it to let loose.”

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

AlanEvans

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:23 on August 10th, 2007

In the best horror movie tradition - it came back just when it was least expected. Good stuff.

StriperSS

at 21:31 on August 10th, 2007

With a venomous snake or other reptile, never assume it's dead for at least a couple of days, even if the head is severed. It can still have the heat sensing reflex, and bite.

denseatoms

at 21:47 on August 12th, 2007

What perplexes me is why that guy wanted to pick up the head in the first place. It's like one of those animated cartoon plot mechanisms that just have to happen -- or the action will just stop dead in its tracks.