Getting packages to customers on time aren’t the only challenges Amazon drivers have to face. Just this week, a delivery driver for the company received a venomous, and potentially deadly, rattlesnake bite.
“A driver delivering a package to a Palm City home Monday evening was bitten by an Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake which was coiled up near the front door of the deliver location,” according to a press release from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
These snakes are North America’s longest, heaviest and most venomous snake, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Their bites are known to be painful and even fatal. A toxin in the venom called hemotoxin kills red blood cells and leads to tissue damage.
“That said, human deaths from rattlesnake bites are rare, because the antivenom is available throughout its range,” the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute explained.
As the driver was putting down a package at a Highland Reserve community door, one of these snakes bit the back of her leg, just above her knee. She immediately became ill and called 911, said the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
“Dispatchers were able to pinpoint the victim’s exact location through cell phone GPS coordinates, then send help,” it said. “She was transported to the hospital,” where she was in very serious condition as of Tuesday evening. Eastern Diamondbacks very common to the area, authorities said.
Adult Eastern Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes are typically about 33-72 inches long and they have a row of large dark diamonds with brown centers and cream borders down their backs. Otherwise, their bodies a brownish color and they often hold the rattle end of their tails off the ground. Those bit by these snakes are advised to seek immediate medical care, according to the Florida Museum.