Davis was sitting around a family campfire in Elk County at the time.
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A camping trip in Elk County, Pennsylvania ended in tragedy when a 39-year-old man lost his life due to a rattlesnake bite.
According to Newsmax on July 20, he came running after being bit by the snake and entered the campsite telling his girlfriend that he had to go to the hospital.
The couple sped off, but with the venom coursing through his veins, Davis “began to have severe breathing problems” and the girlfriend stopped at a nearby bar for help, the coroner told the newspaper.
Penn Highlands personnel reported that an anti-venom treatment was given to Davis before he was transported to a hospital in Pittsburg for additional treatment. He was pronounced dead there just before 5:30 a.m. Sunday, the coroner told the Post-Gazette.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the largest populations of timber rattlesnakes occur in the remote, heavily forested regions of Pennsylvania.
On its website, the agency states:
“There have been no deaths in Pennsylvania attributable to timber rattlesnake bites for at least the past 25 years.”
The second type, the massasauga, is concentrated in only two areas: Venango and Butler counties.
The coroner ruled Davis’ cause of death as an anaphylactic reaction to a venomous snake bite. No autopsy will be performed.
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According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 7,000 and 8,000 people receive a venomous snakebite each year, and about five of those people die. If you spot a snake, never try to pick it up, and if you or a friend is bitten, do not attempt first aid – instead, get to a hospital as soon as possible.
