Crown King Community Association September Newsletter

On Saturday, August 22nd, at 11AM, Richard & Jenny Abbey and their family arrive at their cabin on Towers Mountain Road.

As she always does, their dog Mona eagerly jumped out out of their vehicle and excitedly bounded away, as all of our dogs do, happy after the long ride be able to run free on her property.

However, an Arizona Black Rattlesnake was under the corner of the eve right next to the power panel of their cabin. Mona ran up to smell it and she got bit right away on the side of the nose.

Within about one minute, she started to be very sleepy and started drooling a lot. They got her back in their vehicle and raced down the hill to Kachina Animal Hospital in Dewey which is the closest vet to CK.

Sadly, despite everything Kachina tried to do (The Abbeys say they were great), Mona could not pull out of it and died Monday afternoon.

The Abbeys have asked us to please get the word out there as losing Mona has been very rough on their family and they hope that their experience will help save others.

You can read the letter they wrote about their experience by clicking here.

There are a number of pro-active things you can do to minimize your dog's exposure to rattlesnakes and mitigate the effect should they get bit:

1) Be observant and aware that the Arizona Black Rattlesnake is very prevalent in Crown King. Look at the picture below and you can Google "Arizona Black Rattlesnake" for more info and pictures. The Black-tailed Rattlesnake pictured below is also common in Crown King. Just because you aren't seeing them doesn't mean they aren't there, because they are.
2) Get your dog vaccinated with the rattlesnake vaccine available from Red Rock Biologics. Your vet has it and it is cheap. Especially in CK where we are 1 - 1.5 hours from a vet, it will buy you time and save your dog's life.
3) Take your dog to a snake-proofing class. I take our dog Blue to Partner's Dog Training but there are others. For him it works. Just the other day we ran across a Red-Speckled Rattlesnake while hiking, it rattled, and Blue pulled me away (I keep him on a 4 foot leash).
4) Take a walk around your property when you first arrive and in the mornings before you let your dog run around, and as hard as it is to do, keep an eye on your dog and close to you when out hiking.

A handy resource to have for indentifying "all things in the wild" is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States Book - good to have one at your home and cabin.

Mona

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Black-tailed Rattlesnake

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