Here's a disturbing stat--about 3,000 of those 7,000 bites happened when someone was handling or otherwise bothering a snake. Most of these bites occured on the hands and forearms. Most bites that occurred when the person was just minding their own business occur below the knee. I'm not sure how they define these groups, but it sounds like almost 40% of snake bites could be avoided if people did not try to handle a snake or just left them alone. It's gotta be partly how they define these terms because I find it hard to believe that so many people would want to try and grab a snake with their bare hands.
i had the pleasure to hear dr. findlay russell, reknowned herpetologist of the los angeles county - university of southern california - medical center, speak several times in the 80s. he's since left there. an excellent speaker and funny!
he quoted statistics - i don't remember the exact numbers so i can't quote them exactly - but as i recall, people who get snake bit on the hands / fingers are overwhelmingly male, under the age of 30 (perhaps 25?), have tatoos (!?), and have a blood alcohol level that would get them arrested if they were driving.
which explains arney's "hard to believe" sentence.
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