From the ArcaMax Publishing, Weird News Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/weirdnews/s-559068-707226
POOLESVILLE, Md. (UPI) -- A Maryland man bitten by a baby copperhead
snake at his apartment inside a Buddhist temple said he prayed for the
animal before setting it free.
Sam Pettengill, 36, said he assumed the tiny snake was harmless when
he found it inside his studio apartment Sunday night at the Kunzang
Palyul Choling temple near Poolesville, so he attempted to pick it up,
The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
He said some friends helped him catch the snake in a vase and identify
it as a potentially venomous species after it bit him twice on his
index finger. However, he said he took the snake on a three-minute
walk around the temple's holy Enlightenment Stupa, offering "prayers
for a higher rebirth," before setting the animal free and going to the
hospital.
David Srour, who works at the emergency room of Shady Grove Adventist
Hospital, said snake bite victims usually come in with the dead snake
in tow, but Pettengill offered only a calm description of his
experience.
"He was very calm. It was unusual, I thought," Srour told the
newspaper. "He talked about the snake in an almost reverential tone."