MAERIM, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - 2015/08/25: Snake handlers perform during a snake show at the Mae SA Snakes Farm in Maerim, Chiang Mai. (Photo by Stephen J. Boitano/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A two-year-old in Turkey got her lick back against a snake who tried her! The toddler bit the reptile to death after it attacked her first and sank its fangs into her lip. According to Newsweek, the toddler is from the village of Kantar near Bingol. The incident reportedly occurred on August 10.
Neighbors found the toddler after hearing her screams coming from a backyard area. When the neighbors reached the toddler, she had a bite mark on her lip. But, the little girl also had a 20-inch snake clenched between her teeth.
“Our neighbors have told me that the snake was in the hand of my child; she was playing with it, and then it bit her,” Mehmet Ercan, the toddler’s father, told media outlets. But, he added, “Then she has bitten the snake back as a reaction.”
It’s unclear how soon after the bite, the snake died, but the toddler was taken to the hospital for treatment. The toddler’s father was reportedly at work when the snake attack and revenge went down. Doctors treated the girl at the Bingol Maternity and Children’s Hospital. Medical professionals supervised the child for 24 hours and determined she was recovering well.
Newsweek reports that the National Poison Information Center (NPIC) collected 550 snake bite reports in Turkey between 1995 and 2004. It’s unknown which species of snake bit the child. However, given her recovery, the reptile likely wasn’t venomous.
But, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center, even snakebites from a nonvenomous snake can lead to an infection or allergic reaction. An untreated bite can also lead to damage to the skin or tissue where the bite took place, internal bleeding, organ damage, shock, and in extreme cases, death.
At this time, it’s unclear if this is the child’s first time playing with snakes or if she was being directly supervised during the attack.
