Texas sergeant spots rattlesnake while out on call. ‘One shot and the snake was down’

A rattlesnake got a little too close for comfort for Sgt. Rick Villarreal as he was responding to a call recently in rural Texas.

The Bee County Sheriff’s Office said Villarreal had located a stolen vehicle at a cemetery and was tracking footprints when he saw the slithering creature just 2 feet away from him.

As the snake rattled, Villarreal realized he had no safe option other than shooting it.

“One shot and the snake was down,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post on Monday, March 21.

Photos shared by the sheriff’s office show the snake on the hood of a patrol car, but the encounter could have turned out much different. About 7,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes annually in the United States, and about two people in Texas die annually from snake bites.

Ten species of rattlesnakes exist in Texas, and they are widely distributed throughout the state. Only three species are known to interact with human beings, and all three have venom that can destroy blood and tissue, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

“They shake their tail and make a rattling sound to warn you not to come too close,” the Texas Poison Center Network said.

Symptoms of rattlesnake bites include pain and swelling and sometimes they can cause a muscle twitch, health experts say.

“In an ideal venomous snakebite situation, the victim should sit down and rest, keeping the wound below heart level, while an ambulance is called,” UCI Health said.

Bee County is in South Texas about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio.

This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Texas sergeant spots rattlesnake while out on call. ‘One shot and the snake was down’."