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Snake bites landscaper at Heritage Isles course
By SUSAN THURSTON
© St. Petersburg Times, HERITAGE ISLES -- Orlando Vega was weeding near a pond at the Heritage Isles golf course on Thursday when something bit him. Bee? Hornet? Snake? He wasn't sure. Then he saw a snake slither by in the water. A co-worker immediately called authorities, who rushed Vega to the hospital in an ambulance. Emergency crews don't take any chances when it comes to snakebites. Even possible ones. "They assumed from what they saw and what he said that it was a snake," said Ray Yeakley, spokesman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. It turns out a snake did bite Vega, but no one knows what kind or whether it was poisonous. Just in case, paramedics gave him a drug to stop any venom from spreading. Vega, 38, was treated at St. Joseph's Hospital and released a short time later. Golf course officials said he was bitten but that no poison entered his system. "It was not a big deal," said Jason Richards, golf course superintendent. "He's fine." Vega got the day off Friday to recover from what could have been a serious injury. He could not be reached for comment. The bite came four months after Chris Thomas almost died from a rattlesnake bite while golfing at the same course, which opened last year in a recently developed area of New Tampa. Thomas was golfing on April 22 when was bitten twice on the calf while reaching for a ball he hit into the rough. He was flown to Tampa General Hospital, where he was given several vials of antivenin to counteract the poison. Hospital officials said Thomas was lucky to have survived. While only about one-fourth of all poisonous snakes actually release venom with their bite, when they do, it can be quite serious. Richards said the landscaping crews were not overly concerned. "I've been here for a while and I've only seen one or two snakes." -- Susan Thurston can be reached at (813) 226-3463.
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