Ignorance dangerous for snake-bit Scotsman

DUNDEE, Scotland, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A Scottish gardener working for the first time as a grouse beater said he risked his life because he did not realize the country has venomous snakes.

Billy McAskill grabbed the snake because he wanted to photograph it and was bitten on the thumb as it slipped away, The Scotsman reported. He stayed out with a shooting party because gamekeepers told him he had "nothing more than a scratch."

"I didn't think there were any poisonous snakes in the U.K., let alone Scotland," he said.

What he did not know was that the snake was an adder, a protected species in Britain and the only venomous species in most of Europe.

"By the time we got back to the bothy five hours later, I was feeling really bad and my hand had swollen up to about three times its normal size," he said.

McAskill spent a night in a hospital in Elgin and went home to Dundee to recuperate.

"That was my first time grouse beating and will definitely be my last -- not for 35 pounds ($70) a day, anyway," he said.