COUNTY NEWS RELEASE

What to do if bitten by a rattlesnake…

If someone is bitten by a rattlesnake, get immediate medical attention, as severe or even life-threatening symptoms may occur within minutes after the bite or, in other cases, may begin after a couple of hours.

First Aid Tips:

• Lay or sit down with the bite in a neutral position of comfort.
• Remove rings and watch before swelling starts.
• Wash the bite with soap and water.
• Cover the bite with a clean, dry dressing.
• Mark the leading edge of tenderness/swelling on the skin and write the time alongside it.

How do hospitals treat rattlesnake bites?

At the emergency department, you may be given: Antibiotics to prevent or treat developing infections. Medicine to treat your pain. A special type of medicine (antivenin), depending on the type of snake that bit you and the severity of your symptoms.ion on how to contact NM Game and Fish, visit the Contact Us page on their website

Hazing methods for the home and on the trails

When encountering coyotes in your yard at home or out hiking on our local trails, utilize the following methods of “hazing” to scare coyotes away from areas where coyotes are not welcome or if they are being aggressive.

The simplest method of hazing a coyote involves being loud and large: Stand tall, wave your arms, and yell at the coyote until they run away. If a coyote has not been hazed before, they may not immediately run away when you yell at them. Haze until the coyote retreats. 

Use hazing tools such as noisemakers or surprises (garden hoses, water guns with vinegar water, pop-open umbrellas, motion-activated lights, or sprinklers) to frighten the animal.

Other low-intensity hazing, intended to scare away coyotes, includes:

• banging pots,
• shining bright lights,
• throwing small rocks or sticks,
• spraying pepper spray,
• carrying a ski pole or golf club,
• using whistles or other noisemakers,
• practice S.M.A.R.T. actions.

Encountering aggressive coyotes

Be S.M.A.R.T.!

Stop! Do not run! If you run, the coyote may chase.

Make yourself look big! Put your hands over your head or pull your jacket up over your head. Look as big as you can so the coyote knows that you are too tough to mess with.

Announce forcefully, “Leave Me Alone”! Repeat if necessary. This lets the coyote know you are a person, and it lets people around you know that you may be in trouble.

Retreat! Back away slowly, but don’t turn your back on the coyote.

Teach your friends and neighbors about coyotes and report coyote encounters to an adult if you’re a child.

Supplemental Feeding Can Harm Deer

Feed sites congregate deer into unnaturally high densities. These high deer densities can:

• attract predators and increase the risk of death by coyotes or domestic dogs.
• spread disease among deer.
• cause aggression, wasting vital energy reserves, and leading to injury or death.
• reduce fat reserves as deer use energy traveling to and from the feed site.
• result in over-browsing of local vegetation and ornamental plants.
• deny access to food, because subordinate deer are kept away from feeding stations, and over-browsing by larger deer removes food available to fawns.
• increase deer-vehicle collisions. Vehicle-killed deer near feed sites can outnumber those that would naturally succumb to winter mortality.

Other Problems Associated with Feed Sites:

• Deer feed sites cause deer to depend less on their natural environment and more on humans. Deer may lose their fear of humans and become habituated to feeding sites.
• While well-intentioned people try to help the deer by feeding them, they harm them due to how the microorganisms on their stomachs work.
• Feed sites lure deer away from natural wintering areas. This attraction can trap deer in inferior winter habitats and increase the chance of malnutrition and predation.
• Young deer that associate feeding sites with winter habitat may never learn to occupy natural winter habitat. Thus, feeding may produce long-term habitat loss and critical behavioral change.