The lady, recognized as 46-year-old Gabriela Bautista, is the second individual to endure a deadly chew in current weeks.
An aerial shot of Wildwood Regional Park close to Thousand Oaks, California (Photograph: gorinyan through Getty)
Up to date March 26, 2026 07:08AM
A 46-year-old hiker died after a rattlesnake bit her on a preferred Southern California mountain climbing path, the realm’s second demise by snakebite this yr, authorities say.
Gabriela Bautista was mountain climbing at Wildwood Regional Park, a preferred space close to Thousand Oaks with 17 miles of path, when she suffered a chew on March 14 at about 11:40 a.m., Ventura County Hearth Division spokesperson Andrew Dowd instructed the Thousand Oaks Acorn. Emergency companies airlifted Bautista to Los Robles Regional Medical Heart, the place she died on March 19. Whereas the incident occurred earlier this month, it had not been publicly reported till this week.
Bautista’s demise got here simply weeks after one other deadly snake encounter in Southern California. On February 1, Julian Hernandez, 25, was mountain biking close to Irvine. He stopped to regulate his shoe when he misplaced his steadiness and fell into some brush, the place a rattlesnake apparently bit him, the Irvine Police Division instructed Los Angeles’s ABC7. Whereas Orange County firefighters rushed Hernandez to the hospital, he died simply over a month afterward March 4.
A heat winter and spring throughout a lot of the western United States could also be contributing to higher-than-usual rattlesnake exercise. Dowd instructed Los Angeles’s KTLA that in 2025 the division recorded 9 rattlesnake-related calls, and that since March 14 alone, it had responded to 4. Following the bites, San Bernardino Nationwide Forest issued an alert warning guests of rattlesnakes within the space.
Deaths by snakebite are extraordinarily uncommon in america. In response to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, 7,000 to eight,000 folks endure venomous snakebites yearly, with solely 5 or so dying in consequence. In August of 2025, a hiker died from an allergic response to a rattlesnake chew in Tennessee’s Savage Gulf State Park. Authorities later stated they believed that the hiker had picked up the snake, probably in an try to maneuver it.
Surviving a Snakebite
Whereas rattlesnake bites are harmful, the reptiles solely chew people in self-defense, typically when stunned or disturbed. However because the local weather warms many specialists count on encounters to rise.
Keep alert and hold earphones out in areas the place rattlesnakes are widespread. The snakes typically—although not at all times—warn off threats by rattling.
Should you encounter a snake, give it a large berth, at the least 6 ft, ideally extra. If it’s not protected to cross the snake, take into account turning round. Don’t, below any circumstances, try to maneuver it or scare it out of the way in which.
If bitten, keep calm and name 911. Whereas ready for help, keep nonetheless and hold the chew space beneath coronary heart stage.
Don’t try to chop or suck venom out of a chew. It doesn’t sluggish the unfold of the venom and might trigger an infection.
