Rattlesnake Bites, Kills Oklahoma Man On His Birthday

TURLEY, OK — An Oklahoma man out celebrating his birthday died after he tried to show kindness to a snake sunning in the middle of the road. The 42-inch young timber rattlesnake sank its fangs twice into Barry Lester as he attempted to rescue it Sunday from the peril of oncoming traffic, according to media reports.

The venomous effects of the snake bites, one on each the 57-year-old man’s hands, were almost instantaneous. Lester, a former competitive rodeo calf roper and iron worker, has handled plenty of snakes before without being bitten. He was able to wrangle the rattler and drop it into a toolbox in his pickup, then told his wife, Roberta, that he needed to go to the hospital.

Paramedics who met the couple at their Turley home were unable to revive him and he died after reaching a hospital in nearby Tulsa, according to reports.

“He was talking and his head dropped, and I think that was it,” Roberta told Tulsa World.

Her husband died from the combined effects of the two rattlesnake bites and a pre-existing heart condition, she said.

The Lesters were in Osage County and on their way to Walnut Creek, a tributary of Keystone Lake, to celebrate his birthday when they happened on the snake. Roberta told the Tulsa newspaper she has “no idea” why Barry decided to rescue the rattlesnake, but that he often captures non-venomous snakes and releases them outside their home to control the mouse population.

As her husband lay dying in the Tulsa hospital, Roberta had to decide what to do with the snake, which was still in the toolbox in their garage.

It was removed by game warden Carlos Gomez, who is stationed in Tulsa County for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

“That was a first for me,” the longtime game warden told Tulsa World. “At first, the call was that it was a snake in the trunk of a car, and I thought that really was bizarre. I was actually happy it was an empty toolbox. A snake would have a lot of places to hide in a car trunk.”

Snakes bite thousands of people a year, Gomez told Fox News affiliate KOKI-KMYT-TV, but death is rare.

“I don’t try to mess with them, and I discourage other people from messing with them,” he said.

Rattlesnakes are coming out of hibernation and are “out and about on these warm days,” he told the Fox News affiliate. “They’re coming out looking for food and aggressively hunting.”

Some people thought Gomez should kill the snake, but he told Tulsa World “the snake didn’t do anything wrong” and “was doing what it naturally does to defend itself.”

For now, the rattlesnake has joined several dozen others in Haskell, Oklahoma, where snake hunter Tim “Wild Man” Fitzer, who has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Venom Hunters” program. He milks the snakes for their venom, then releases them back to nature.

Jeffrey Weaver, a programming executive at Emmy Award-winning production company Authentic Entertainment, said the 53-year-old Haskell taxidermist was a natural for the show.

“We saw a video of Tim online where he was catching and handling a rather large rattlesnake, and it impressed us immediately,” Weaver told Tulsa World in 2016. “It was not only his comfort level around the snake and his fun and engaging personality but also his understanding of the reptile and its behaviors.

“He seemed to understand what the reptile was going to do and what would happen next … and he also understood that they can surprise you, as well, and that they can be deadly.”

Fitzer, who has lived through five snake bites himself, told the newspaper that getting bitten is an almost certain consequence of working with snakes.

“You just accept that if you work with snakes for a long time at some point you are going to be bitten. Even when you wear the safety gear and you’re careful, things can just happen. It’s not an if but a when and any time could be your last.”

Roberta Lester said her husband’s death is an important reminder to others to leave poisonous snakes alone.

“Don’t mess with snakes,” she told Tulsa World. “If you hear it rattling, you leave it alone.”

Photo by James Horning via Shutterstock