Fire Ant Death Raises Fay Toll
UPDATED: 8:22 pm EDT August 27, 2008
<SCRIPT src="/js/13260191/script.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><LINK href="/css/13260803/style.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet><!--startindex-->The death toll from Fay has risen again.
This time a man in Seminole County has died as the result of complications from severe ant bites.
Other insects and animals have been stirred up by the heavy rain and flooding, and it's creating a serious hazard for people in the area. <TABLE class=storyAd cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=storyAdObj><!-- Begin Ad tag: square--><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>IBSYS.ad.AdManager.registerPosition({"iframe": false,"addlSz": "","element": "ad_N69.3A81","interstitials": false,"beginDate": "","endDate": "","getSect": "","name": "square","qString": "","width": "300","height": "250","section": "","useId": "17317276","interactive": false,"useSameCategory": true,"topic": "","swSectionRoot": "","useZone": "","type": "DOM"**);</SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/ibs.orl.weather/local;kw=weather+square+17317276;comp=false;ad=true;pgtype=detail;tile=2;sz=300x250;ord=1219884188531?"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><!-- End Ad tag: square--> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
He was bitten on Monday and taken to Florida Hospital East in Orlando. It is unknown if he was allergic to ant bites, but a spokeswoman for Seminole County reports that he was elderly and that he died on Wednesday from those bites.
All over Central Florida, high water and sudden shifts in habitat, like the new sinkhole off Wekiwa Springs Road are stirring up potentially dangerous animals.
She was confronted in her driveway by this venomous water moccasin and didn't budge from her car, until Critter Control got to her home to capture the snake.
"They are dangerous. They aren't necessarily going to kill you. It can happen, but you wouldn't want to go through the results of their bite either way. If it doesn't kill you it's going to put you in a lot of pain," Jim Widows of Critter Control said.
Calls to Critter Control have tripled this week since the storm, with people reporting everything from snakes in the yard, to raccoons, possums and rats.
"And times like this when we have a lot of rain, they are more likely to be driven out of their nests in the trees and they seek shelter look for someplace high and dry," Widows said.
He said the dangerous thing about raccoons and rats is that they carry rabies.
Closer to rivers and lakes, residents in flooded areas are having too close encounters of the alligator kind.
Rafts of ant colonies, both red and fire varieties are floating along in the water, looking for a dry place -- which could be the foot or hand of a human.
Seminole County is also confirming that a person was bitten by a water moccasin at a fish camp in Geneva this week. There is no word on that person's condition. <!--stopindex-->
UPDATED: 8:22 pm EDT August 27, 2008
<SCRIPT src="/js/13260191/script.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><LINK href="/css/13260803/style.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet><!--startindex-->The death toll from Fay has risen again.
This time a man in Seminole County has died as the result of complications from severe ant bites.
Other insects and animals have been stirred up by the heavy rain and flooding, and it's creating a serious hazard for people in the area. <TABLE class=storyAd cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=storyAdObj><!-- Begin Ad tag: square--><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>IBSYS.ad.AdManager.registerPosition({"iframe": false,"addlSz": "","element": "ad_N69.3A81","interstitials": false,"beginDate": "","endDate": "","getSect": "","name": "square","qString": "","width": "300","height": "250","section": "","useId": "17317276","interactive": false,"useSameCategory": true,"topic": "","swSectionRoot": "","useZone": "","type": "DOM"**);</SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/ibs.orl.weather/local;kw=weather+square+17317276;comp=false;ad=true;pgtype=detail;tile=2;sz=300x250;ord=1219884188531?"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><!-- End Ad tag: square--> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
He was bitten on Monday and taken to Florida Hospital East in Orlando. It is unknown if he was allergic to ant bites, but a spokeswoman for Seminole County reports that he was elderly and that he died on Wednesday from those bites.
All over Central Florida, high water and sudden shifts in habitat, like the new sinkhole off Wekiwa Springs Road are stirring up potentially dangerous animals.
She was confronted in her driveway by this venomous water moccasin and didn't budge from her car, until Critter Control got to her home to capture the snake.
"They are dangerous. They aren't necessarily going to kill you. It can happen, but you wouldn't want to go through the results of their bite either way. If it doesn't kill you it's going to put you in a lot of pain," Jim Widows of Critter Control said.
Calls to Critter Control have tripled this week since the storm, with people reporting everything from snakes in the yard, to raccoons, possums and rats.
"And times like this when we have a lot of rain, they are more likely to be driven out of their nests in the trees and they seek shelter look for someplace high and dry," Widows said.
He said the dangerous thing about raccoons and rats is that they carry rabies.
Closer to rivers and lakes, residents in flooded areas are having too close encounters of the alligator kind.
Rafts of ant colonies, both red and fire varieties are floating along in the water, looking for a dry place -- which could be the foot or hand of a human.
Seminole County is also confirming that a person was bitten by a water moccasin at a fish camp in Geneva this week. There is no word on that person's condition. <!--stopindex-->
