Alabama man dies 3 days after copperhead snake bite at Smith Lake
By Carol Robinson | [email protected]

A Tuscaloosa husband, father, son and brother died Monday, three days after he was bitten by a copperhead snake at the family’s Smith Lake home.

Oliver “Chum” Baker, 52, was pronounced dead at a Huntsville hospital. He leaves behind a large, close-knit family including his wife, Marilou Briney Baker, and sons Charlie, who just graduated from high school, and 12-year-old Walden. Baker grew up in the Birmingham area.

“He never met a stranger,’’ said his brother, Reb Baker. “He loved everybody.”

The family had gathered at the lake home for the long holiday weekend. Baker was outside on the stone patio walking his new lab puppy when he alerted family members that he had been bitten by a copperhead. The snake was still coiled up outside the back door.

Within minutes, Baker fell unconscious. A relative gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until paramedics arrived. They drove to a nearby school so that he could be airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, but he was not stable enough to fly.

The paramedics then took him by ambulance to a Jasper hospital, and eventually he was airlifted to Huntsville. Family said Baker suffered a severe allergic reaction to the snake’s venom which caused anaphylactic shock and ultimately cardiac arrest. Baker never regained consciousness.

“It was a whole chain of events,’’ Reb Baker said. “His organs just couldn’t recover.”

Baker was the youngest son of retired Birmingham radiologist Dr. Charlie Baker and his wife, Pat. He worked water quality control for the City of Northport.

“He would go way out of his way to help everybody. He never wanted accolades,’’ his brother said. “Everybody loved him. It’s just unbelievable.

He must have gotten a full load of venom. Though copperhead bites are usually non-fatal, any poisonous snake is capable of killing you.

Dang. A quick shot from an EpiPen and eating antihistamines like pez candy might have saved him?

Dang. A quick shot from an EpiPen and eating antihistamines like pez candy might have saved him?

Same thing happened to a lady within two miles of my house a few years back. As I recall, she was weeding her flowerbed and was bitten on the hand or finger. She collapsed and died before she made it to the hospital. She too had a severe anaphylactic reaction to the venom.

He must have gotten a full load of venom.

Yep, Its possible that it could have been that simple.

Copperheads are supposedly found more frequently where there are Live Oaks.

Those dirty sombitches will lay in wait for ya RBB, hope you smoked that one after the pic.

Macheted!

Very unusual. Fatalities from copperhead bites are extremely rare. Apparently it was due to an extreme allergic reaction to the venom. Anaphylaxis due to a variety of allergens does kill people on a regular basis.

Benadryl takes too long to work. It’s not going to hurt to chug 4 or 6 25mg diphenhydramine tablets before you collapse but his airway could’ve swollen shut.....he’d have to have eaten them 30 minutes or so before being bit. He went into cardiac arrest quickly so only an epi pen or 2 would’ve had a chance at saving him, that and a defib....

I'd take a copper over this bad dude. Thankfully he rattled agressively yesterday. About as bad as they get....

Yep.

Here's one I snapped amongst the live oak leaves..

My lawn got pretty high because my riding mower had broke down. I got another rider to get on top of the yard and the last two days I’ve been mowing and weed whacking the property. I’ve run over 2 snakes chopped 2 with the weed eater and was resetting some blocks in a low retaining wall and squashed one snake. All were garter snakes and all were accidentally killed. There were so many snakes that I thanked God that I live where there’s no killer snakes.

That’s a shame about Chum, he sounds like a great guy that was really loved. He was obviously allergic and I wonder if the outcome would’ve been any different if he’d had an epi pen and got a dose onboard immediately. I’m sure that he got the full spectrum when the medics got there but by then his heart had been shutdown too long.

northern blacktail. they have a rep. as being pretty mellow. he might have felt backed into a corner. they get your attention. more of a mountain snake than a desert snake (desert mountains too)

Most snakes don't get me excited but there are a few exceptions. Copperheads are top of the list because they are difficult to see and inclined to stay put until you step on or very near them..... I would eradicate them if possible.

Kraits are #2, but I won't be seeing many of those here in the neighborhood.

How did he die from anaphylactic shock 3 day lighter. The few cases I've seen are immediate, like a bee sting. I saw one that was due to taking penicillin that was not prescribed to her. Was he allergic to the anti venom?

Not positive of your diagnosis....

Potentially...

Had a mixture of traits like alot of rattlers seem to....

GregW- Heres what I found after a couple decades hunting rattlers....they dont rattle aggressively, they aren't mad, they're scared. Its a warning. However, that said, the bottom line is still the same...if you mess with them after a rattle, they'll bite you. Otherwise they just want to be left alone.

FWIW any of them Ive ever seen that showed any true aggression never rattled....they had no intention of warning you before they tried to kill you. I hunted Pacific Diamondbacks a lot-supposedly the most aggressive of the rattlers, and still...it was an extremely rare event, and usually not without provocation.

GregW- Heres what I found after a couple decades hunting rattlers....they dont rattle aggressively, they aren't mad, they're scared. Its a warning. However, that said, the bottom line is still the same...if you mess with them after a rattle, they'll bite you. Otherwise they just want to be left alone.

FWIW any of them Ive ever seen that showed any true aggression never rattled....they had no intention of warning you before they tried to kill you. I hunted Pacific Diamondbacks a lot-supposedly the most aggressive of the rattlers, and still...it was an extremely rare event, and usually not without provocation.

He went into cardiac arrest. I suspect the temporary lack of blood flow led to tissue damage throughout his body. After that, organs like the liver and kidneys not only had to deal with direct damage from lack of oxygen, but also with the influx of toxins from the breakdown of tissues in other areas of the body.

Seen 7 total this year which is a record

Wow.

I caught this nipper under the lid of the propane tank.