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Dog keeps rattlesnake from striking owner
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| Joy Stamm, left, is being comforted by her friend Solveig Fredstrup, right, after her dog Annabelle died from the bite of a poisonous rattlesnake at her Keno home. The dog ran between the rattlesnake and Stamm to protect her owner. |
Published Monday July 18, 2005
BY CAROLA ROUFS
A three-legged, partially blind cairn terrier is credited with saving the life of Keno resident Joy Stamm.
Annabelle, Stamm's 12-year-old dog, placed herself between a coiled rattlesnake and Stamm. The snake struck Annabelle. Stamm was not injured.
"It's amazing that an animal would volunteer its life for a human," said 70-year old Stamm, who lives near Clover Creek Road in Keno. "I only had Annabelle for a year and 10 months, and she did this for me."
Their frightening en-counter with the poisonous snake happened about 9:50 a.m., July 11. On that day, Stamm let Annabelle run free in her small, fenced back yard. Usually the dog was taken outside on a leash. Stamm had just stepped out her back door when the terrier reacted.
"I thought, oh, isn't that cute? She's running toward me," Stamm said. She was standing on the porch, about three feet away from the snake.
Stamm, who has no vision when she looks straight down, did not see the large snake that was below her back steps. The small, black dog rushed across the yard to protect her.
"The minute she went 'yip,' he started rattling. She took the bite, then I heard rattles," Stamm said. "After the rattler bit her, Annabelle ran. While the snake was recouping from the strike I ran over and grabbed her up."
Stamm, a retired nurse said that she remained fairly calm.
"I'm methodical. I do what I need to do," she said. "Then when it's all over, I go to pieces."
Stamm drove her dying pet to the Klamath Animal Clinic.
"My little friend, I knew I was losing her on the way in," she said. "It takes 25 minutes to get to the Jefferson Mall where the vet is from here. I remember looking at the clock. It was 9:50. She died at four."
Karen Bird, a veterinarian who has been in practice since 1981, called the dog's death a tragedy.
Although there was an anti-venom serum available, the cost was too extreme for Stamm to afford on her fixed income.
"Joy's one of my favorite clients," Bird said. "She's a very special lady."
Bird said that in the last five years she's seen more snakebites than in the almost 20 previous years of her practice.
"Annabelle is the first one I've had perish from a snake bite," Bird said. "She came to Joy from the Humane Society. Although she was three-legged, she could get along very well. She was just beginning to get her sight back after we got her under treatment."
A specialist had been coming from Portland regularly and caring for the terrier, who only had 5 percent vision because she had dry eye sockets. Responding favorably to her treatments, the dog had just recently regained about 70-75 percent of her vision. That's why she wasn't on a leash that day.
Stamm believes it was Annabelle's recovered vision that saved her life.
"She had a lot of strikes against her, but because she could see, she took the hit," Stamm said. "She was a special dog. Everybody that knew her fell in love with her."
The snake that bit Annabelle has been destroyed.
District Wildlife Biologist Tom Collom of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife made an attempt to capture the big rattlesnake that same day. It was still in Stamm's backyard.
"We don't get a lot of rattlesnake calls," the wildlife biologist said. "Not often does a pet get bitten. She's in a good spot, or bad spot, depending on how you look at it, for rattlers. She's right up against a rocky ridge."
Collom said his initial attempt was to load the snake into a bucket and relocate it, but it scurried under a cement block and tried to get away. It got angry and struck at his shovel. He had to kill it.
"If you get too close, it will bite," he said, "but the antidote is pretty effective."
Collom said rattlesnakes are not scattered in the Basin. They like the foothills and rocky areas and are active mainly at night.
"They are happy feeding on mice and insects and they do a good service," he said. "The rattlesnake's initial defense mechanism is rattling. If you get too close, they strike. Their venom is used to strike their prey to paralyze it so they can eat it."
This snake was next to Stamm's back porch, and she came too close.
Although Stamm has seen a baby rattler on her front porch since the day she lost Annabelle, Collom doesn't think she needs to worry too much about having a nest of baby rattlesnakes by her house.
"They've dispersed by now, it's too late in the year for a nest," he said. "You have about as much of a chance of dying from being struck by lightning, or dying from being stung by a bee, as you do of dying from a rattlesnake bite—certainly you have more of a chance of dying from a car crash."
For Stamm the realization of what happened to Annabelle, is starting to sink in. She has not yet made up her mind where she will scatter her beloved pet's ashes.
"I didn't have her long," Stamm said, "but she sacrificed her life for me. Maybe I'll put her ashes next to the Sphinx by the tree, and plant some flowers."
BY CAROLA ROUFS
A three-legged, partially blind cairn terrier is credited with saving the life of Keno resident Joy Stamm.
Annabelle, Stamm's 12-year-old dog, placed herself between a coiled rattlesnake and Stamm. The snake struck Annabelle. Stamm was not injured.
"It's amazing that an animal would volunteer its life for a human," said 70-year old Stamm, who lives near Clover Creek Road in Keno. "I only had Annabelle for a year and 10 months, and she did this for me."
Their frightening en-counter with the poisonous snake happened about 9:50 a.m., July 11. On that day, Stamm let Annabelle run free in her small, fenced back yard. Usually the dog was taken outside on a leash. Stamm had just stepped out her back door when the terrier reacted.
"I thought, oh, isn't that cute? She's running toward me," Stamm said. She was standing on the porch, about three feet away from the snake.
Stamm, who has no vision when she looks straight down, did not see the large snake that was below her back steps. The small, black dog rushed across the yard to protect her.
"The minute she went 'yip,' he started rattling. She took the bite, then I heard rattles," Stamm said. "After the rattler bit her, Annabelle ran. While the snake was recouping from the strike I ran over and grabbed her up."
Stamm, a retired nurse said that she remained fairly calm.
"I'm methodical. I do what I need to do," she said. "Then when it's all over, I go to pieces."
Stamm drove her dying pet to the Klamath Animal Clinic.
"My little friend, I knew I was losing her on the way in," she said. "It takes 25 minutes to get to the Jefferson Mall where the vet is from here. I remember looking at the clock. It was 9:50. She died at four."
Karen Bird, a veterinarian who has been in practice since 1981, called the dog's death a tragedy.
Although there was an anti-venom serum available, the cost was too extreme for Stamm to afford on her fixed income.
"Joy's one of my favorite clients," Bird said. "She's a very special lady."
Bird said that in the last five years she's seen more snakebites than in the almost 20 previous years of her practice.
"Annabelle is the first one I've had perish from a snake bite," Bird said. "She came to Joy from the Humane Society. Although she was three-legged, she could get along very well. She was just beginning to get her sight back after we got her under treatment."
A specialist had been coming from Portland regularly and caring for the terrier, who only had 5 percent vision because she had dry eye sockets. Responding favorably to her treatments, the dog had just recently regained about 70-75 percent of her vision. That's why she wasn't on a leash that day.
Stamm believes it was Annabelle's recovered vision that saved her life.
"She had a lot of strikes against her, but because she could see, she took the hit," Stamm said. "She was a special dog. Everybody that knew her fell in love with her."
The snake that bit Annabelle has been destroyed.
District Wildlife Biologist Tom Collom of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife made an attempt to capture the big rattlesnake that same day. It was still in Stamm's backyard.
"We don't get a lot of rattlesnake calls," the wildlife biologist said. "Not often does a pet get bitten. She's in a good spot, or bad spot, depending on how you look at it, for rattlers. She's right up against a rocky ridge."
Collom said his initial attempt was to load the snake into a bucket and relocate it, but it scurried under a cement block and tried to get away. It got angry and struck at his shovel. He had to kill it.
"If you get too close, it will bite," he said, "but the antidote is pretty effective."
Collom said rattlesnakes are not scattered in the Basin. They like the foothills and rocky areas and are active mainly at night.
"They are happy feeding on mice and insects and they do a good service," he said. "The rattlesnake's initial defense mechanism is rattling. If you get too close, they strike. Their venom is used to strike their prey to paralyze it so they can eat it."
This snake was next to Stamm's back porch, and she came too close.
Although Stamm has seen a baby rattler on her front porch since the day she lost Annabelle, Collom doesn't think she needs to worry too much about having a nest of baby rattlesnakes by her house.
"They've dispersed by now, it's too late in the year for a nest," he said. "You have about as much of a chance of dying from being struck by lightning, or dying from being stung by a bee, as you do of dying from a rattlesnake bite—certainly you have more of a chance of dying from a car crash."
For Stamm the realization of what happened to Annabelle, is starting to sink in. She has not yet made up her mind where she will scatter her beloved pet's ashes.
"I didn't have her long," Stamm said, "but she sacrificed her life for me. Maybe I'll put her ashes next to the Sphinx by the tree, and plant some flowers."
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