Overview
- The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a 78-year-old Redwood Valley woman bitten three times on April 8 died on April 10, with a coroner citing snake envenomation and a severe clotting disorder, and the species remains unknown.
- California Poison Control reports about 70 to 77 rattlesnake bite calls in the first three months of 2026, far ahead of a typical full-year total of roughly 200 to 350.
- Recent nonfatal bites, including a Palos Verdes Estates case last week, have prompted city and federal warnings urging people to stay on trails, leash pets, and give snakes space.
- Researchers tie the surge to heavy winter rain that boosted rodents, which drew snakes to forage earlier, and to a March heatwave that shifted activity into daytime hours.
- Doctors stress immediate hospital care with antivenom and warn against tourniquets, cutting, suction, or ice, while the CDC says only about five U.S. snakebite deaths occur each year.