Man dies from snake bites at camping site

PATTERSON, Mo. -- A St. Charles, Missouri, man died July 8 after he was bitten repeatedly by a copperhead snake while camping at Sam A. Baker State Park in Patterson.

The Wayne County Sheriff's Department received a 911 call at 9:05 p.m. from the 13-year-old daughter of Tim Levins, indicating her father had been bitten by a snake at their cabin in the park, said Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch.

"He was outside; he and his 11-year-old son had walked out" of the cabin, Finch explained. "He saw the snake and drew his son's attention to the snake. The dad pursued the snake and picked it up."

Levins, Finch said, threw the snake "back down, released it and turned to his son and said he had been bitten."

Finch said the 52-year-old walked back into the cabin, where he washed his hand off at the kitchen sink.

"(He) walked back over to the couch and sat down," Finch said. "According to the 13-year-old daughter, within two to three minutes, he was shaking uncontrollably."

At that point, Finch said, the teen called the sheriff's department, which sent emergency medical services personnel to the scene.

Ambulance personnel arrived at 9:23 p.m. to find Levins unresponsive, and CPR was begun, Finch

said.

As CPR continued to be administered, Finch said, Levins was taken by ambulance to a Poplar Bluff, Missouri, hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The cause of death has been ruled anaphylactic shock from the snakebite, which caused Levins to suffer convulsions and seizures, Finch said.

He said Levins had six puncture wounds -- one set near his thumb, one set near a finger and one set on top of his hand.

"This is the third case of a copperhead snake bite death in the state of Missouri," Finch said.

The only other known deaths from copperhead bites in Missouri happened in the 1960s and in 2012.

Of the 47 species of snakes in Missouri, only five are venomous. Of those -- which include the timber rattlesnake, cottonmouth, pygmy rattlesnake and massasauga rattlesnake -- the venom of the cottonmouth is least toxic, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.