Schoolgirl, 8, raced to hospital after bite from venomous snake on family picnic

dailystar.co.uk:

hospitalised after she was bitten on the finger by an aggressive adder whilst enjoying a picnic with her family.The eight-year-old was raced to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where medics gave her an intravenous infusion of anti-venom serum.Her dad David Rathbone, who wanted to keep the name of his daughter private, told Birmingham Live: “She had been alerted to the snake's presence by one of our party.“Being a plucky girl, she investigated the striking-looking reptile with her finger.

Unusually, the snake did not retreat but struck at her."She gave out a 'yelp', at which point I grabbed her hand and sucked hard at the wound on the tip of her index finger.“The snake still did not retreat.

The snake also struck at my hand forcing me to whip my hand out of range.”After the unlucky girl complained of pain and swelling, the pair jumped in the car whilst her fingers began to increase in size.Within 15 minutes of the attack they had reached the minor injuries unit at Kidderminster hospital and her whole hand had begun to swell.Heroic medics acted quickly to bind her hand and lower arm before transporting her by ambulance to Birmingham Children’s Hospital."She was taken into the resuscitation unit,” David explained.Stay up to date with all the latest news from the Daily Star by signing up to one of our free newsletters here.“She was in fine spirits throughout, being a very brave girl, until she received an intravenous infusion of anti-venom serum, which made her quite ill as it's a strong drug."This is a very rare event, and the snake's behaviour quite bizarre, perhaps triggered by the sudden change in weather to this warm spell.