Upstate Hiker Encounters a Rare Rattler! You Won’t Believe What Happens Next!
Does your fear of rattlesnakes - or any snake- prevent you from going into the woods? If you said yes, you're not alone!
There are people who will not hike because they're afraid of being attacked by a rattlesnake - and I totally get it. Snakes freak people out, and for good reason - one could be lurking anywhere; under a rock, beneath a shrub, or blending right in with the trail.
Far be it from me to tell you about snake safety when us hikers are trespassing on their turf, but a video was taken on an upstate NY trail recently surfaced and could make hikers in Upstate NY as rare as bigfoot.
On Friday, a woman from Upstate NY named Sarah Breedlove posted a video of a large, rattlesnake to a Facebook group called Letchworth State Park Lovers. The public group is used by people to post images, and videos, or ask questions about the 14,427-acre New York State Park located in the western part of the State of New York.
Many who watched the video, did so in horror as it slithered from a grassy knoll, onto a beach area inside Letchworth State Park - and into the water!
Seeing a Timber rattlesnake may be a rare occurrence in New York State, but plenty have been photographed in the Catskills, Adirondacks, and throughout western New York as well, but seeing one in the water is very unusual.
Who knew Timber rattlesnakes were such good swimmers?
The timber rattlesnake - as seen in the video below - is one of three deadly snakes that slither in the State of New York. The Massasauga and the Copperhead are the other two venomous predators that can live in the Empire State, and yes, they swim too!
According to The Snake Discovery Library, the highly venomous timber rattlesnakes have rarely been documented swimming in the water, but they can, and will, if scared or chased away by something on land, or in extreme hunting situations.
Where are these Timber rattlesnakes and what happens if I encounter one?
According to the NY DEC, timber rattlesnakes can also be found in lowlands, wetlands, or residential areas near dens, and this is what you do if you encounter one do not panic - Keep a safe distance of 6 ft or more away. The DEC says that Timber rattlesnakes are not aggressive unless provoked.
"The venom, which is used primarily to immobilize prey, can be fatal to humans if the bite is untreated. However, in New York there have been no records of human deaths attributed to rattlesnakes in the wild during the last several decades." - NYS DEC
With all of that being said, seeing how easily the serpent transitioned from land to sea is the kind of stuff that could give you nightmares. Thankfully, it doesn't happen all the time!