Re: Snakebite kits

[rides2far@juno.com (Angela C. McGhee)]

>Angie, you ARE crazy.  I'd rather get run over by a rhino than 
>electrocuted.

I KNEW I'd get this response.  Just wanted to stir something up. :-) 
According to the article, it has become a common practice to carry them
in some jungle areas  where hospitals are hard to get to.  The big plus
to the stun gun method was that there wasn't tissue damage, and if you've
ever seen the disfigurement caused by a copperhead bite, that alone would
make you consider it.  I believe they only used them on bites form
Copperheads, Rattlers... that catagory.  Not the Cobra/Coral Snake
variety

When my husband called the company that made the stun guns, the secretary
(or whatever) that he talked to was well aware that they were being used
for this purpose, but they couldn't recommend it...sort of like "feed
additive only" labels.  Ha.  Would you believe she said to my husband,
"Have you been shocked by one?"  He said, "No."  She said she did demos
several times a day where she was shocked by one.  Can you imagine what
HER HAIR looks like?  :-))

After the first installment of the series, there was lots of disbelief
and discussion of the procedure.  In a later article a veterinarian from
Texas wrote and said that he had read the article, then had a person
bring in a Blue Heeler that had been bitten by a rattlesnake on the nose.
 The dog's head was swollen and (gosh it's been a couple of years, I hope
this is correct) he thought he couldn't save it by normal means.  He told
the owner about the article and they decided to try it.  They took the
dog out back, hooked up the jumper cables and zapped him a couple of
times.  The dog started improving rapidly (wouldn't you?) and the owner
told him that when they got home it jumped off the tailgate and chased a
rabbit.  I know this sounds absolutely bizarre, so I think I'll see if I
can find Outdoor Life Magazine on the web and ask if there has been any
more proof or refuting this treatment.  If I have to I'll type the whole
stupid article up so everyone won't think I've TOTALLY lost it.

By the way, a policeman who also ran a gun store, came where I worked to
give a class on self defense.  Someone mentioned stun guns and he said
they were useless.  I said, "Have you ever heard of treating a snake bite
with one?" and he said, "Oh yea, they're great for that, just sorry for
self defense".

Angie





>O.K.  I'm going to make ya'll think I'm crazy, but has anybody else 
>ever
>heard of using a stun gun on snake bites?  Outdoor Life Magazine did a
>series of articles on it several years ago, and I still have them.  
>The
>articles claimed that venom sort of has positive & negative charges or
>something, and that if you shocked the area with a stun gun (or even
>jumper cables) that the venom separated to the poles or something and
>literally deactivated...no tissue damage or anything.
>
>Angie and Kaboot  (What's that in your hand?)
>
>
>
>

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