Researchers are racing to determine the cause of a sudden increase in fatal snake bites in California after three people died and others were hospitalized.
A woman was recently bitten by a rattlesnake while picking flowers in the open area of Paseo Del Campo in Palos Verdes Estates. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where her condition is still stable, according to Fox 11 News.
Earlier this month on the Buena Vista Trail, a rattlesnake bit a woman, and Montecito firefighters had to rescue her. A Camarillo man was also hospitalized after being bitten near the CSU Channel Islands campus.
In another case, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported that earlier this month, a woman was walking in a rural Redwood Valley area when a poisonous snake bit her three times. Doctors treated her at a hospital, but she died two days later. It was the third deadly snake bite in California this year. The state’s typical average is less than one a year.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office also reported, “The California Poison Control System has also reported 77 rattlesnake bite cases in the first three months of 2026 alone, contributing to concern as the state historically sees approximately 200 to 300 rattlesnake bites per year on average.”
Why are poisonous snakes biting so many people in California?
“More research and information will help us figure out if this trend is a real uptick in the number of bites from rattlesnakes in California, and why that is happening,” Rais Vohra, the medical director for the California Poison Control System’s Fresno-Madera Division, told SFGate.
“In the meantime, we want to stress PREVENTION and SAFETY when people are enjoying the outdoors on hikes and exploring the wilderness and rural areas. Wear protective shoes and long pants, stay on well marked trails, carry a phone and water with you, and DO NOT touch or approach wild animals including snakes when you see them.”
According to The Independent, experts have speculated that unusually warm weather, including an early March heatwave, has forced rattlesnakes out of hibernation earlier than usual in search of food and mates. The warmer weather also meant more people were spending time outside at the same time the snakes were emerging.
What should you do if a snake bites you?
“Try to stay calm, keep the heart rate nice and slow, and keep the area of the bite in a neutral, relaxed position is the best thing you can do,” Dr. William Woo of Kaiser Permanente recently told KTLA News. “Do not delay that hospital care. That is of the utmost importance.”
Dr. Woo went on to say that it’s critical to get emergency assistance as soon as possible and to refrain from making a tourniquet or trying to extract the venom.
“A snake bite with venom from a rattlesnake causes significant stress on the body,” he explained, adding that it can cause organ shutdown.
“It can be really severe, and we know that the effective treatment is antivenom, and the sooner we can administer it, the better off the patients are,” he continued. “It can cause a whole host of problems in the body.”