A 2-year-old boy was taken by ambulance this morning to a Redding hospital after he was bitten on the shin by a baby rattlesnake in the Olinda area.
The boy was out in the front yard of his Willett Way home when his mother heard him yell “snake!” said Alex Bostick, a captain with the Happy Valley Fire Protection District.
Bostick said the boy’s mother saw the foot-long snake, killed it and called 911.
The boy, whom Bostick declined to identify, was raced to Mercy Medical Center in Redding. He said paramedics were especially concerned given the boy’s age and the small size of the snake.
Young rattlesnakes are generally considered to be more venomous.
Even so, the boy seemed to be faring well before being rushed to Mercy, Bostick said.
“He’s a tough little guy,” Bostick said. “He was saying ‘Bad snake! Mean snake!'”