On the afternoon of August 1, a 65-year-old female, surnamed Chiu, from Hsinchu County’s Sinfeng village walked into her living room to watch television. As she sat down on the sofa, she thought she had trodden on something with her right leg. Then, the top of her foot was bitten, and when Chiu looked down, she saw a snake. Petrified, Chiu fought her way to the door and searched for help from her neighbor. Chiu’s neighbor, called “A-wan,” rushed inside and drove away the snake.
Chiu’s daughter said ducks are raised next to the house and there is grassland, therefore it is natural that snakes will come and go. However, she has no impression of ever coming across a cobra before, and heard nursing staff at Taipei Veterans General Hospital say they have previously treated members of the public for snake bites from the border area between Hsinchu County’s Sinfeng Village and Sinwu Township in Taoyuan. Chiu’s daughter therefore suspects these incidents may be related to religious activities which release snakes into the wild, and called on religious followers to consider the safety of others before releasing them. The government should do something about the fact that National Taiwan University Hospital Hsinchu Branch does not contain a department of toxicology, said Chiu’s daughter.
(Liberty Times, translated by Edward Jones)
Photo courtesy of Chiu’s family
照片:由邱婦家屬提供
八月一日下午,住新竹縣新豐鄉六十五歲邱婦走進一樓客廳想看電視,剛走到沙發,覺得右腳踩到東西,右腳盤還被狠咬一口,她低頭一看「是蛇!」嚇得奪門而出找鄰居求救,鄰居「阿丸」衝入,把蛇趕出。
邱婦的女兒說,住家旁養鴨、有草地,有蛇出沒是自然的事情,但印象中沒碰過眼鏡蛇,聽台北榮總護理人員說,曾收治新豐鄉與桃園新屋交界處的民眾被蛇咬傷病例,懷疑跟宗教放生活動有關,呼籲信眾放生前考慮人命安全,政府也應正視新竹醫院都無毒物科的問題。
Photo: Yang Yi-min, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者楊宜敏
(自由時報記者黃美珠)
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