Deadly Snake Bites Amazon Driver Delivering Package

An Amazon driver is in "very serious" condition after a snake bite during a routine delivery in Florida.

The Martin County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday morning that the female driver was delivering a package in Palm City, in the southeastern portion of the state, when she was bitten by an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake. The snake was coiled up near the homeowner's front door in the Highland Reserves community.

"The driver walked to the door, put the package down and was struck by the snake," the sheriff's office wrote in a Facebook post. "She immediately became ill and called out for help. The snake bite victim was transported to the hospital where she is in very serious condition."

A sheriff's office spokesperson told Newsweek via phone that a police report was not yet filed and that the driver's present condition is unknown. It's unclear where the driver was bitten or how large the snake was.

"Our thoughts are with the driver and we hope for a full recovery after this frightening incident," Amazon spokesperson Branden Baribeau told Newsweek via email. "Together, with the delivery service partner, we're looking into the circumstances surrounding this incident and continue to make sure that drivers understand they should not complete a delivery if they feel unsafe."

This species of rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in North America, according to National Geographic. It can reach up to 8 feet in length and weigh up to 10 pounds, though they average about 5.5 feet and 5 pounds.

Adults are usually between 33 and 72 inches. The largest ever recorded was 96 inches, according to the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory at the University of Georgia.

Their venom contains a potent hemotoxin that kills red blood cells and causes tissue damage. Although bites are described as extremely painful and can be fatal to humans, they typically don't result in death.

The snakes live on average in the wild for 10 to 20 years and tend to live in dry, pine flatwoods, sandy woodlands and coastal scrub habitats ranging from southern North Carolina to Florida and west to Louisiana.

These carnivores, whose population is dwindling, are widely recognized by their yellow-bordered and light-centered black diamonds. They eat an array of animals, including rats, mice, squirrels and birds.

Their aggression toward humans is described as more of a rare occasion.

"Feared as deadly and aggressive, diamondbacks are actually highly averse to human contact and only attack in defense," according to National Geographic. "Most bites occur when humans taunt or try to capture or kill a rattlesnake. They can accurately strike at up to one-third their body length."

Florida is home to 44 species of native snakes in coastal mangroves, salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, dry uplands and many residential areas, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

The FWC's Wildlife Assistance Program has only had six reports throughout the state of humans injured by a snake this year, an FWC spokesperson told Newsweek via email, specifying that numbers are only calculated based on calls into the agency.

Five of the incidents involved venomous snakes and occurred at the following dates and locations:

• March 23, Collier County, Cottonmouth (venomous)
• May 18, Alachua County, unknown venomous snake
• May 22, Nassau County, Cottonmouth (venomous)
• June 8, Hardee County, unknown venomous snake
• July 24, Duval County, unknown venomous snake
• September 15, Lake County, eastern rattlesnake (nonvenomous)

Michael McCormick, spokesperson and education coordinator for the Florida Poison Information Center in Jacksonville, told Newsweek via phone that Florida annually has about 300 venomous snake bites.

In 2021, there were 290 and last year 306. Between January 1 and September 13 of this year, there have been 266. That's about 7.5 percent ahead of last year's pace.

The numbers are based on actual numbers of patients treated for bites, based on calls to the Florida Poison Information Center Network. The numbers could be higher, depending on if a hospital did not consult with the network on treatment or someone did not seek treatment.

"There are more than 22 million Floridians and about 300 bitten by venomous snake every year, so it's not likely [for someone to be bit]," McCormick said.

Florida is "snake season" 12 months per year, he added, and his center treats an average of about 250 non-venomous snake bites annually.

"A non-venomous snake bite can still be dangerous because snakes have bacteria in their mouths," he added. "You can definitely get some of sort of infection that comes from a non-venomous snake bite."

Aside from the Eastern diamondback, only five of the state's 44 species are venomous: Eastern coral, Southern copperhead, cottonmouth, timber rattlesnake and dusky pygmy rattlesnake.

Update 9/20/23, 9:28 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Amazon and the Florida Wildlife Commission.