Hiker Picks Up Rattlesnake on Trail — and Dies From Bite

It's been a ridiculously infuriating year for obnoxious tourists disrespecting nature and the animals who inhabit various destinations. To wit: predictably, a man who was hiking on a Tennessee state park trail was bitten, then died, after picking up a rattlesnake he encountered.

You need not know the varieties of venomous rattlesnakes that inhabit Tennessee; it is common sense that rattlesnakes pose a threat to both humans and companion animals alike, and should be respected from a distance.

What are the gory details of the hiker who picked up a rattlesnake while hiking and, predictably, was bitten? If you have not yet learned about this completely preventable, tragic death, you're in for some interesting details.

Before we proceed, it should be stated that you must always afford wild animals the distance and peace they deserve, safely admiring them from afar.

Otherwise, a wild animal's unpredictable nature may present in an act of self-defense.

According to a report in The Tennessean, a hiker was bitten on the hand by a rattlesnake he came across on a trail at Savage Gulf State Park in Grundy County, Tenn.

While obviously immensely tragic, the death was completely preventable. The hiker reportedly picked up the rattlesnake, disturbing it and agitating it to the point that the snake needed to defend itself.

"Rescue crews were called to the trailhead on 55th Avenue at about 12:30 p.m. [on] Aug. 8, the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency said. When they found the hiker, they immediately started CPR until he was hooked up to a mobile CPR machine," according to the report in The Tennesseean. "The man was rushed to a hospital, where he later likely died from an allergic reaction to the snake's venom, the agency said."

According to the State of Tennessee's Wildlife Resources Agency website, there are at least 32 different species of snakes that call the state of Tennessee home.

News sources do not indicate whether the man was bitten by the Timber Rattlesnake or the Pygmy Rattlesnake, but in either case, the man should have given the snake a significant amount of distance and, of course, not picked it up with his hands.

According to the State of Tennessee's Wildlife Resources Agency website, "The Pygmy Rattlesnake (also Pigmy) is the smallest, and one of the least known, venomous snakes in Tennessee."

Per the same resource, "The Timber Rattlesnake is the largest, and the most dangerous, of the four venomous snakes in Tennessee; it occurs across the state."

According to the National Park Service website for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, "Although very few snake bites occur...visitors should be cautious where they place their hands and feet, especially around old buildings and stone fences."