May 21, 1:21 PM (ET)
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) - A snake handler showing a high school biology class how rattlesnakes strike was bitten by a timber rattler during a demonstration.
Students at Hempstead High School watched in horror on Wednesday as Dan Roth of Galena, Ill., was bitten during his "Snakes Alive" presentation, officials said.
The snake's fang went through a balloon Roth was holding and hit his hand, said Mike Ouverson, a conservation officer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Ouverson was helping Roth with the demonstration.
No students were harmed.
Roth was taken to University Hospitals in Iowa City, where he underwent surgery, Ouverson said. A hospital spokesman said Friday that no information on Roth's condition was available.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040521/D82N3L280.html