Bitten by Rare Rattler, Girl, 5, in Critical Condition

A 5-year-old Antelope Valley girl remained in critical but stable condition at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center on Wednesday after being bitten by a rare and potentially lethal green Mojave rattlesnake while playing in her backyard.

Experts said the ongoing hot spell probably is at least partially to blame for a rash of snakebites reported recently in Southland foothills.

The girl, Ruby Wright, was rushed by Sheriff’s Department helicopter from her home in the Littlerock area to the Antelope Valley Medical Center in Lancaster, where she was given “large doses” of antivenin and a breathing tube was placed down her throat.

Ruby was then flown to County-USC Medical Center, where she is being treated under the supervision of Dr. Willis Wingert, director of the center’s venom laboratory.

“She was very critical when she got to (the Antelope Valley) hospital, but the doctor up there did a fine job,” Wingert said. “He probably saved that little girl’s life. She’s doing quite well today, and she looks like she’s going to make it all right.”

Firefighters responding to the emergency call at the isolated high-desert home shortly after noon on Tuesday said the girl was bitten on the right foot, between two of her toes. Although Ruby’s mother shot the snake after her daughter was bitten, it managed to escape.

The reptile was identified as a green Mojave rattler from a description by the mother and from some of the symptoms suffered by the girl. The snake’s venom affects the central nervous system, causing paralysis. Ruby was suffering from paralysis of the vocal chords when she was brought in, Wingert said.

Wingert said snakes typically emerge during the sort of warm spring weather that is currently being experienced in the Southland.

“We’ve been having temperatures in the 80s and 90s, so they’re out in the daytime right now, hungry and looking for something to eat,” Wingert said. “That little girl didn’t understand the danger.” A least a dozen snakebites have been reported in the Southland foothills in the last few weeks.

“We had another one this morning,” Wingert said. “A man up in the hills picked up a snake. He’ll be all right, but that was kind of a mistake.”