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Dog bitten by venomous snake at Connecticut state park rescued from mountain
A dog was receiving medical treatment after being rescued from a precarious hiking trail in Connecticut, where last week he suffered a venomous snake bite, according to animal control.
The rescue from Sleeping Giant State Park required a team of multiple people, who carried the dog in a stretcher down an “extremely treacherous” part of the mountain, said Hamden Animal Control in a social media post shared on Wednesday. Known for its scenic overlooks and uneven, rocky terrain, the park is about 10 miles from New Haven. Although rescuers initially thought the dog had injured his leg, animal control said Friday that he’d actually been bitten by a copperhead snake.
“The dog that was rescued Wednesday at Sleeping Giant State Park was not injured, he was bitten by a copperhead snake!” Hamden Animal Control wrote in another post. “He was administered anti-venom and is being monitored. Let’s all hope for a full recovery.”
The dog named Raleigh belongs to New Haven resident Masahiko Seto, who had spent the day with his son and their pet at the state park, CBS affiliate WFSB reported. Animal control said the incident is a reminder for any potential visitors to be careful while at Sleeping Giant since Northern Copperhead snakes do live there.
Populations of the viper species are found in areas across the eastern United States, including in Connecticut, where they are concentrated in the central lowland region west of the Connecticut River, the state government writes in a description of the copperhead on its website.
Those snakes are mainly seen in Hartford, Middlesex, and New Haven Counties, according to that description, which adds that copperhead snake bites require medical attention as they can cause severe illness but rarely death in humans. How a smaller creature like a dog might respond to the venom was not immediately clear.
Hamden Animal Control noted that the landscape of Sleeping Giant State Park is ideal for the copperhead, one of two venomous snake species found in Connecticut with the other being the endangered timber rattlesnake.
“Their habitat includes rocky hillsides, open woods, as well as edges of swamps and meadows,” Hamden Animal Control said. “BE SAFE EVERYONE!”
Barbara Godejohn, a supervisor at Hamden Animal Control, told WFSB that there are certain precautions people can take to avoid snake bites when visiting Sleeping Giant.
“Just be aware of where you’re stepping before you step. Wear high top boots to protect yourself, they’re low to the ground,” Godejohn said. “Keep your pets close to you. This is something that’s probably not avoidable. If you’re going to take your pet hiking, make sure you have the proper equipment and maybe have a snake bite kit with you, if you know you’re going to an area where venomous snakes are going to be.”
Floodwaters pushed by the remnants of Hurricane Helene left North Carolina’s largest mountain city largely cut off Saturday by damaged roads and a lack of power and cellphone service, part of a swath of destruction across southern Appalachia that left an unknown number dead and countless worried relatives unable to reach loved ones.
In North Carolina alone, more than 400 roads remained closed on Saturday as floodwaters began to recede and reveal the extent of damage. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said that supplies were being airlifted to that part of the state. Cooper said two people died in his state, Helene killed at least 52 people across multiple states.
Among those rescued from rising waters was nurse Janetta Barfield, whose car was swamped on Friday morning as she left an overnight shift at Asheville’s Mission Hospital. She said she watched a car in front of her drive through standing water and thought it was safe to proceed. But her car stalled, and within minutes water had filled her front seat up to her chest. A nearby police officer who saw her car stall helped her to safety.
“It was unbelievable how fast that creek got just in like five minutes,” Barfield said.
Erik Verduzco / AP
Early on Saturday morning, many gas stations were closed because they didn’t have electricity, and the few that were open had hourlong lines wrapped around the block. The hub of tourism and arts, home to about 94,000 people, was unusually still after floodwaters swamped neighborhoods known for drawing visitors including Biltmore Village and the River Arts District, which is home to numerous galleries, shops and breweries.
More than 700,000 power customers were without power across North Carolina, including 160,000 in Buncombe County. Interstate 40 and I-26 were impassible in multiple locations, and a state transportation department map showed that most routes into Asheville and across much of the mountains were snarled. North Carolina’s Department of Transportation posted on social media on Saturday afternoon that “all roads in Western North Carolina should be considered closed.”
In Asheville, there was no cellular service and no timeline for when it would be restored.
“We have had some loss of life,” County Emergency Services Director Van Taylor Jones told reporters. However, he said they were not ready to report any specifics. Officials have been hindered in contacting next of kin by the communications outages. Asheville police instituted a curfew from 7:30 p.m. Friday to 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
“The curfew is to ensure the public’s safety and will be in effect until further notice,” police said.
Asheville transit services were also suspended, police said. The city advised residents to boil “all water used for human consumption,” as there was at least one significant water line break during the storm. Many residents might not be getting water or reduced or no pressure water.
Jones said the area experienced a cascade of emergencies that included heavy rain, high winds and mudslides. Officials said they tried to prepare for the storm but its magnitude was beyond what they could have imagined.
“It’s not that we (were) not prepared, but this is going to another level,” Sheriff Quentin Miller said. “To say this caught us off-guard would be an understatement.”
Erik Verduzco / AP
Atlanta resident Francine Cavanaugh said she has been unable to reach her sister, son, or friends in the Asheville area.
“My sister checked in with me yesterday morning to find out how I was in Atlanta,” she said on Saturday. “The storm was just hitting her in Asheville, and she said it sounded really scary outside.”
Cavanaugh said her sister had no idea how bad the storm would be there. She told Cavanaugh she was going to head out to check on guests at a vacation cabin “and that’s the last I heard of her. I’ve been texting everyone that I know with no response. All phone calls go directly to voicemail.”
The CEO of a hospital operator that filed for bankruptcy protection in May will step down after failing to testify before a U.S. Senate panel.
Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre has overseen a network of some 30 hospitals around the country. The Texas-based company’s troubled recent history has drawn scrutiny from elected officials in New England, where some of its hospitals are located.
A spokesperson for de la Torre told the Associated Press Saturday that he “has amicably separated from Steward on mutually agreeable terms” and “will continue to be a tireless advocate for the improvement of reimbursement rates for the underprivileged patient population.”
A CBS News investigation that spanned nearly two years documented how private equity investors and de la Torre extracted hundreds of millions of dollars while healthcare workers and patients struggled to get the life-saving supplies they needed.
In August, the company closed two Massachusetts hospitals, leaving about 1,200 workers jobless, according to the state.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said earlier this month that Congress “will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America.”
De la Torre’s resignation is effective Oct. 1. The Senate approved a resolution on Wednesday that was intended to hold him in criminal contempt for failing to testify before a committee.
The Senate panel has been looking into Steward’s bankruptcy. De la Torre did not appear before it despite being issued a subpoena. The resolution refers the matter to a federal prosecutor.
Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
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