Rowing Coach Gets Rattled
Andy Bacas of Arlington, Virginia is a rowing coach who got a bit rattled after he returned from a team trip to South Carolina. Actually, he made contact with the other end from the one that bears the rattle. The canebreak rattlesnake disguised as the coach's suitcase bit him when Bacas reached in.
Bacas, a rowing coach at Yorktown High School, told fire and rescue personnel that he reached into his luggage Monday morning after returning from a team trip to South Carolina when he felt a sharp pain. That's when he saw the nearly foot-long snake and quickly slammed the luggage shut with the snake inside, said Chief Ben Barksdale, spokesman for the Arlington County Fire Department.
Fire and rescue workers took the suitcase outside, opened it and blasted it with a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, essentially freezing the snake and killing it, Barksdale said.
"The guy who responded had seen it done on TV," Barksdale said of the technique, adding that it can be effective for bees or other wild animals.
Mr. Bacas is doing well in the hospital after his ordeal at the hands - er, fangs - of the reptilian legions of the Animal Uprising™. We hope our loyal readers picked up on that handy tip on how to handle snakes disguised as carry-on luggage. The CO2 varmint freeze is a safe and effective measure. Well, ok, it isn't safe for the varmint, but if they didn't want to be frozen, they shouldn't have disguised themselves as harmless luggage. Upon reading this story, we here at the Crabitat immediately doused likely camouflaged critters with hefty doses of frozen gas from the large stock of fire extinguishers that are stored here. (Or have been since the last flamethrower accident, at any rate.) We did not encounter any hidden reptiles, but any advice on defrosting beagles would be appreciated.
By PBurns, Tuesday, 25 March , 2008 @ 2:19 am
I know Andy! Used to row crew together. Nice guy. Hope he is doing well. - PBurns (terrierman)
By Mockinbird, Tuesday, 25 March , 2008 @ 12:15 pm
Defrosting beagles! LOL