ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Shirley Sorohan says when she was growing up, mom and dad offered some sound advice.
“Always look at your surroundings. Be on the watch. Well, I didn’t,” Sorohan said.
Wednesday night, while stepping out a door of her Alpharetta home and into the garage, it struck.
“That fast. And I walked around and said, ‘What the hell? Oh, my God! It’s a snake!’” she exclaimed.
A venomous copperhead, coiled up on a doormat, sunk its fangs into Sorohan’s foot.
“It hurt really bad. I’ve never felt pain like that,” Sorohan told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen.
She ended up in a local emergency room, got a dose of antivenom and spent two nights in the hospital. She is on the mend.
According to Poison Control, she’s one of around 500 Georgians who will be bitten by a snake this year. Copperheads are the usual suspects.
Doctors say the bite is rarely fatal but very painful — which is why Sorohan says the serpent got what was coming to him, thanks to her husband and a trusty shovel. It was beheaded.
“And he threw the carcass to the critters of the night to eat on him,” Sorohan said.
In Georgia, it is legal to kill a venomous snake that’s on your property.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
TRENDING STORIES:
- Hantavirus outbreak: 2 from cruise ship taken to Emory Hospital, 1 has symptoms
- I-285 shutdown for construction has been rescheduled
- Metro Atlanta city to shut roads down for 3 days of film production
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2026 Cox Media Group
