Joseph Ricciardella pulled over and attempted to save the snake from being run over after he noticed it in the road.
The timber rattlesnake, which is uncommon in the Northeast, bit his hand when he draped a shirt over it and went to pick it up, leading to the attempted good act landing him in a medically induced coma in a Connecticut hospital, according to his daughter’s mother and former girlfriend Brittany Hilmeyer.
Hilmeyer reported that Ricciardella had called her on Sunday, informing her that he was on his way to the hospital after getting bitten. She remarked that his voice sounded strange, like Donald Duck.
Ricciardella was traveling from an upstate New York park to his home in Torrington, Connecticut, which is approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Hartford, when she said it happened.
He hasn’t been able to talk in detail to family and friends yet, so it’s unclear exactly where the interaction took place, she said.
After being transported from a hospital in Torrington, Hartford, 45-year-old Ricciardella, a father of four who owns a landscaping company and without health insurance, went into cardiac arrest, was revived, and was then put into a medically induced coma, according to Hilmeyer.
He was taken out of the coma on Tuesday by medical professionals, but because to venom swelling, he was still sedated and intubated, she said.
“It was surprising that, like, anybody would try to pick up a rattlesnake,” Hilmeyer stated on Thrusday. “But it doesn’t surprise me in the same sense because he kind of always did that. If he saw an animal on the side of the road or in the road, he would try to stop and get them out of the road. Or, if he was in his Facebook groups and he’d see they have animals that need help, he would take those animals.”
“It’s crazy. It’s something you would never think is going to happen,” she stated.
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According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the timber rattlesnake is one of only two venomous snakes found in the state of Connecticut.
The other is the northern copperhead. Because of its endangered status, it is forbidden to kill or gather the snake. According to the EPA, rattlesnake bites are likewise incredibly uncommon in the state.
Robert Ricciardella, the brother of Ricciardella, stated that the family spent weekends in upstate New York after growing up in Waterbury, Connecticut, where they played in the woods and caught lizards, snakes, and other creatures, but never a rattlesnake. He expressed amazement that his brother got bitten while attempting to assist one.
“He does quite know better,” he stated.
To help with Joseph Ricciardella’s medical expenses, his family has created a GoFundMe campaign, which has already received almost $5,000.
