Officials executed a dramatic rescue last week after a teenager on a fishing trip was bitten by a rattlesnake “deep in the woods” of the western North Carolina mountains.
The State Emergency Operations Center dispatched a North Carolina National Guard Black Hawk helicopter to the scene in Avery County with rescue technicians from the Charlotte Fire Department.
“The hiker was successfully rescued and was receiving medical treatment at the hospital,” North Carolina Emergency Management said in a June 5 Facebook post.
The snake bite victim, Zain Shah, thanked first responders in the comments section.
“Thank you all for rescuing me! I recognize the man in yellow on the far right from when he took me up on the cable to the helicopter. I cannot express my gratitude enough!” he wrote.
Shah’s father, Inman Shah, also explained in the comments section that “[w]hat started as a fun end-of-high-school fishing trip” for his son, Zain, “and his buddy in the WNC mountains turned deadly when he was bitten by a timber rattlesnake deep in the woods.”
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“I’m beyond grateful for the incredible NCHART and Linville-Central Rescue teams, who got to them in the middle of nowhere and saved his life!” Inman Shah wrote. “He was air-lifted to and treated at Johnson City Medical Center, TN, and is now recovering at home. We are forever in your debt.”
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The timber rattlesnake is a pit viper that is gray in color, sometimes with a pinkish hue, with black and brown diamond-like shapes across its back. It also has a stripe that runs down its back, which can be orange, yellow or pinkish in color, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo.
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A timber rattlesnake will prop itself upright and make a rattling noise with its tail when threatened – a warning that it is about to strike. They range in size from about 2.5 to 5 feet on average.
The pit vipers can be found across the eastern United States, with sightings ranging from Texas to Iowa to the Carolinas and north to Pennsylvania and New England, according to the National Zoo.
