A southern Pacific rattlesnake hiding beneath an Amazon delivery package bit a three-year-old girl in Santa Clarita in mid-July, sending her to the intensive care unit for emergency treatment.
The child, identified as Addy, was retrieving the package with her mother on July 13 when she reached for the brown padded envelope left outside their home. The snake struck her left hand without warning.
Her mother drove her to a nearby grocery store parking lot where first responders met them. Paramedics transported Addy to a local hospital, where medical staff administered an initial dose of anti-venom. She was then transferred to a pediatric ICU at another facility, where she received two additional doses of the antitoxin over the course of her stay.
The aggressive treatment proved effective. "She's doing great now," her father, Manny Barajas, told KTLA. "She's still bruised on her left hand where she was bitten. Her spirits are high, her demeanor is great, but she keeps asking why she was bitten by a snake."
Snake encounters are climbing across California this year, driven largely by persistent heat waves that began in March. The increase in temperature has triggered a surge in rattlesnake activity, prompting more bites and closer human-wildlife encounters. The state's poison control system has logged 277 bite reports so far this year, nearly matching the typical annual total. Three people have died from snake bites in 2024, roughly double the average.
Rattlesnakes normally steer clear of people, but they will strike if startled, cornered, or perceiving a direct threat. The species rarely initiates contact unless provoked or surprised.
Author James Rodriguez: "A toddler nearly dying from a snake coiled under a porch package is the kind of freak incident that makes you rethink how safe 'safe delivery' really is."
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