Hero or heartless? Lake Norman man says snake was ‘ready to attack’ him and his dog
A 3-foot copperhead raised its neck and head and glared at a Lake Norman man and his dog, “ready to attack,” the man told The Charlotte Observer on Wednesday.
Jerry Hurlbut said he gave the serpent no chance to bite him or his golden retriever, Niki, as they rode in his golf cart just after nightfall Friday.
He ran over the snake — not once, but twice, he said.
And since detailing his story on NextDoor, his neighbors and plenty of others are both calling him a hero and slamming him.
“Golf cart 1, snake 0!!” he posted with a photo of the dead snake. The photo shows the snake is close to 36 or 38 inches long. Copperheads can grow to about 48 inches max, according to the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation.
Hurlbut was out for a ride last week on Wood Duck Loop in Mooresville. Niki on a leash and seated beside him.
He said he rode over the snake and turned around to ride over it again when the curled-up viper raised its head as if to strike. After running the cart’s wheels over the snake again, he said, it vanished.
He found the snake on the shoulder of the road the next day, dead, he said.
The copperhead was the third in a month he’s run over in his community with his golf cart. The snakes apparently nest in weeds and a culvert, he said.
He’s protecting others, man says
One thing’s for sure, he said: They don’t belong in the neighborhood, and he will run over each one he sees.
A couple was walking near where he killed the most recent one, he said. Walkers, children and pets could easily chance upon one of the snakes and get bitten, Hurlbut said.
A copperhead’s venom isn’t fatal to humans, but it can cause long-term adverse health effects in animals. And, Hurlbut said, treatment to rid a human of a copperhead’s venom is expensive.
Reaction on NextDoor
Hurlbut’s post on NextDoor on Sunday has drawn more than 75 comments, a fair share from people thanking him.
“You may have saved someone or an animal from getting bit,” a Mooresville woman posted.
“It gives me chills just looking at its dead body!” another woman posted. “Good thing the golf cart killed it.”
A man posted that a friend spent two nights in a hospital after getting bit this year while gardening. “Kill it!” he posted on NextDoor.
A woman in Denver in eastern Lincoln County said her dad’s dog died of a copperhead bite.
A Mooresville resident at the lake, meanwhile, asked Hurlbut if he could pick up the snake to make a headband out of its skin “for my cowboy hat.” Sure, Hurlbut replied.
Copperhead snakes in NC
The copperhead species accounts for about 90% of venomous snakebites in North Carolina, according to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.
That’s because the copperhead is the most common and widespread of the six venomous varieties in the state, commission officials say.
Want to avoid getting bitten? Leave them alone, state wildlife officials say.
‘Live and let live’
Some residents on NextDoor expressed dismay over the Lake Norman snake’s fate.
“Did it need to die?” a man asked.
“It’s really sad that people feel they have the right to take another life so easily,” a Denver woman said. “And to make it suffer by running over it again and again. Live and let live.”
On NextDoor, Hurlbut asked of those who questioned his action: “Who in the world would think the life of a large dangerous viper is worth risking a serious injury or death of an unsuspecting innocent child, adult, or pet??”
He reiterated that in an interview with the Observer.
“It’s just not worth it,” he said.