9 Year Old Girl Recovering After Snake Bite

24 April 2011, 09:04 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A nine-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after being bitten by a snake in the New Forest.

Tyler Butcher was walking with her on Friday (22^nd April) when she was bitten by an 18-inch-long adder.

Her father, Kenny Butcher, called 999 and she was taken to the intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital.

Mr Butcher said his daughter was in “absolute agony” as her leg went black as she suffered an allergic reaction to the bite.

He said that doctors decided to give her anti-venom as the bruising got worse and she was transferred to a general ward.

Mr Butcher said: “We went up to the New Forest for a walk with some friends, we were literally walking back to the car when my daughter gave out a yelp.

“I thought she had stood on a nettle but when I looked down I saw the snake slithering away and saw the puncture marks on her foot.

“She literally lifted her leg off the the ground, standing on one leg, you can tell when your children are in pain and she was in absolute agony.”

He said that he dialled 999 and she was taken by ambulance to hospital.

Praising the emergency services and the medical staff, he added: “They didn't mess around, they were absolutely first class.”

Describing his daughter's injury, he said: “First of all her foot and toe started to go black and the bruise went up her leg and tracked up to the groin area where she was getting some kind of rash.”

He said that later “her whole leg had gone black”.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said: “She is stable and is recovering.”