Nine-year-old girl's entire leg turns black after she is bitten by adder in the New Forest

By Daily Mail Reporter


A nine-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after being bitten by an adder, in an extremely rare attack.

Tylar Butcher's entire leg turned black after she was bitten on the foot while enjoying a bank holiday stroll with her family in the New Forest in Hampshire.

The schoolgirl, who had been walking along a footpath, 'yelped' as the black-striped snake slithered away into the long grass.

She was rushed to Southampton General Hospital's intensive care unit after an allergic reaction caused her leg to turn black.

Doctors treated her with anti-venom and believe she will now make a full recovery.

Tylar's father, Kenny, said: 'We just went to the New Forest for a walk with friends and literally as we were just walking back to the car my daughter let out a yelp.

'It was a very loud scream, not like one I have ever heard from her before.

'It was only meant to be a quick half-an-hour walk and, as we were sticking to the footpaths, Tylar was only wearing flip flops on her feet.

'At first I thought she had been stung by a stinging nettle but then I saw the snake slithering away and the puncture marks on her foot.

'She lifted her leg off the ground and was standing on one leg.

Painful: Tylar's entire leg turned black after she was bitten by the snake. She is now recovering in hospital


'You can tell by your children if they are in pain, and she was in absolute agony.'

As the family from Tring, Hertfordshire, made their way back to the car park, Mr Butcher called a cousin who keeps reptiles and was advised to call 999.

Mum Elayne, 35, said: 'It was like a ticking timebomb for the first 24 hours.
'It is every parent's worst nightmare for something like this to happen to one of your children.

'To go from thinking she had been bitten by a grass snake to realising it was an adder whose venom could permanently damage her system was completely terrifying.

'First of all her toe and foot started to go black and bruise quite badly.

'When I left the hospital on Friday night the black and bruising had risen to her ankle but when I returned the next morning it was all up her leg, part of her groin and even on her torso.

'When she had tried to stand up on the leg yesterday morning, it caused her excruciating pain.

'I think that is when they decided to give her the anti-venom.'

Mr Butcher said that Tylar was recovering well and looking forward to telling all her friends at Grove Road School in Tring about what had happened.

'Tylar has coped extremely well with the pain,' said a proud Mr Butcher.

'Throughout the whole experience, she has been very brave.

'We cannot thank the doctor's enough for what they have done - they have been absolutely brilliant.'

Mr Butcher said it is not known exactly how long the blackening and bruising to Tylar's leg will last, but he said she is expected to be released from Southampton General Hospital.

Adder bites are relatively rare in the UK and Mr Butcher said there had been a lot of interest in his daughter's bite from doctors at the hospital.

There are ten recorded cases of death from an adder bite in the last century but no one has died from one in Britain during the last 20 years.

Watch your step: The New Forest in Hampshire, where Tylar was bitten by the venomous snake


source:dailymail