Hikers Beware: Rattlesnakes Spotted in Litchfield/Dutchess Counties
Social media in Northwest Connecticut is ablaze this morning after one of the only poisonous snakes in New England made appearances around Litchfield County and Dutchess County over the weekend.
The Village of Millerton, New York sent out an advisory on social media warning the public that rattlesnakes have been observed sunning themselves along the roads and large rocks of the Harlem Valley River Trail. The advisory does not pinpoint where the snakes have been observed along the 26+ mile trail that runs between Wassaic and Chatham, New York, but officials advise limiting your headphone use in order to hear the rattlesnake's warning - the rattle, keeping your dogs on their leashes, and not to touch, pick up, or kill rattlesnakes, if encountered.
Breaking Now reports that an unidentified man in his mid 40's suffered a rattlesnake bite yesterday in Litchfield County. The man was initially brought to Torrington's Charlotte-Hungerford Hospital for treatment, but was airlifted by Lifestar shortly after for continued treatment at Hartford Hospital. Breaking Now reported that the man, a self-described 'Animal lover' had been bitten on the hand after discovering the snake on a roadway, throwing a shirt over it's head, and trying to move it off the road.
Snakebites are very uncommon in Connecticut, but they do happen. Just last month, the New York Post reported that a dog was bitten by a copperhead snake at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden. In 2023, wfsb reports that a dog was bitten by a timer rattlesnake in East Hampton, and two dogs were bitten in the Summer of 2022 in Glastonbury according to Boston.com.
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