A paddleboarding break in the English countryside turned dangerous for one father when he stepped onto a grassy bank and was bitten by Britain's only venomous snake, forcing him through a roughly two-hour trip back as his leg swelled rapidly.
What happened?
On May 1, 39-year-old Zak Brown was out paddleboarding with a friend at Suffolk's Cavenham Heath National Nature Reserve when the two paused briefly. During that stop, Brown stepped off his board and unknowingly trod on a juvenile adder, according to Yahoo.
"As I climbed off my paddleboard, I walked up the grass verge and within seconds of standing there I just felt this bang on the back of my left ankle," Brown said. "I jumped up because of the pain and saw this snake hanging from my ankle."
Brown said the reaction began right away after the snake let go, and because there was no quick way out, he and his friend had to paddle back for about two hours.
"Within half an hour, my foot started to swell up around my ankle," Brown said.
After they got back to shore, he said he could no longer put weight on the leg, and the swelling had spread up to his groin.
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"My whole foot and calf was swollen like an elephant. The pain was unbearable."
Why does it matter?
He was later taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where he was given antivenom and kept overnight.
Adders are generally shy and are not known to aggressively seek out people, but bites can happen when someone accidentally steps on one or gets too close.
What are people saying?
Brown said the bite has completely changed how he moves through the outdoors.
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"Now I'm non-stop cautious of snakes, constantly looking around the grass checking because I don't want it to happen again."
He also recalled how sudden and shocking the encounter was.
Hospital staff told Brown he was fortunate the adder was a juvenile.
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