{"id":771130,"date":"2026-07-19T00:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T00:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/771130\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T00:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T00:14:21","slug":"rattlesnakes-put-wild-cat-rescue-on-high-alert-to-protect-felines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/771130\/","title":{"rendered":"Rattlesnakes put wild-cat rescue on high alert to protect felines"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The sound of a rattlesnake\u2019s rattle is a familiar warning for people living in the mountains, and for a cat haven team in Dunlap, it can mean a life-or-death emergency for the animals in their care.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what you you know learn to deal with when you live up here. That\u2019s what you do,\u201d Dale Anderson, founder of Project Survival\u2019s Cat Haven<\/a>, said. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The sound of a rattlesnake\u2019s rattle is a familiar warning for people living in the mountains, and for a cat haven team in Dunlap, it can mean a life-or-death emergency for the animals in their care (PHOTO: PHOTOJOURNALIST JOHN DWELLE).<\/p>\n

California is home to seven species of rattlesnakes,<\/a> and Anderson said his team has dealt with bites over the years.<\/p>\n

California is home to seven species of rattlesnakes, and Anderson said his team has dealt with bites over the years (VIDEO: DALE ANDERSON).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had probably five or six cats that have been bit over the years, one of my servals not this one, but a different serval\u2019s been bit four times,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

Just this past week, Anderson said a 4-year-old serval named Bahati was bitten. <\/p>\n

When the veterinarian realized the venom had spread to 40 percent of Bahati\u2019s blood cells, the animal was rushed to receive anti-venom.<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

When the veterinarian realized the venom had spread to 40 percent of Bahati\u2019s blood cells, the animal was rushed to receive anti-venom (PHOTO: DALE ANDERSON).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a shot. Actually a drip system that they use and it gets put into a system you have to take it easy and anti-venom’s still got venomous qualities to it,” Anderson said. “So you have to be very careful when you give them the anti-venom.”<\/p>\n

Anderson said he and his team are trained on how to properly catch and release rattlesnakes, and he urged people to know what to do if they hear a rattle nearby.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rais Vohra with the Fresno County Department of Public Health said one step after a bite is to wrap it in an effort to slow the venom\u2019s spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re trying to stop the spread of the venom,\u201d Vohra said.<\/p>\n

Vohra said a hospital can remove the wrapping, assess the injury and track swelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the hospital they can remove all of this (wrapping), assess what\u2019s going on, mark the swelling maybe with a pen, maybe even ultrasound the area to make sure they know what the damage looks like on an ultrasound,” Vohra said. ” And then they can basically apply the anti-venom as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n

In Prather, a community member said his dog was recently bitten and rushed to the vet. After receiving anti-venom and treatment, the lab survived, but the owner paid a couple thousand dollars.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In Prather, a community member said his dog was recently bitten and rushed to the vet. After receiving anti-venom and treatment, the lab survived, but the owner paid a couple thousand dollars (PHOTO: TIM ADAMS).<\/p>\n

Health officials said people should never cut, suck, or apply a tourniquet to a snake bite and should get help immediately. For poison-related questions or help, call 1-800-222-1222.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The sound of a rattlesnake\u2019s rattle is a familiar warning for people living in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-771130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}