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Snake bite victim, 87, wasn't afraid

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By KATIE CORONADO

kcoronado@wfla.com

Published: August 14, 2009

TAMPA - Esther Orreno, 87, said she wasn't scared when she fought a pygmy rattlesnake with her cane earlier this week and squeezed it to death with her right hand.

"Nobody can kill the snake," she said in Italian on Thursday. "I am the only one who can kill the snake because I am the strong one."

Orreno was bitten on the hand by the snake Monday and needed antivenin. She spent Monday and Tuesday nights in intensive care and was released from University Community Hospital about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

A full recovery likely will take several weeks, University Community Hospital spokesman Will Darnall said.

Orreno saw the rattlesnake on her doorstep in Hunter's Green on Monday morning. Not realizing what it was, she first pushed it around with her cane, then bent over to move it aside. The tiny snake bit her on the middle finger of her right hand.

Orreno killed the snake, then went inside to treat herself, said her daughter, Maria Pellicone.

Orreno pricked her finger with a pin to try to draw out blood and venom, then swabbed it with alcohol. Then she called Pellicone at work. Orreno doesn't speak English, so her daughter called an ambulance.

The family is keeping its trophy in a freezer.

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