Girl, nine, recovering after snakebite

A NINE-year-old girl was recovering in hospital last night after being bitten by a snake.

Tyler Butcher was walking with her family in the New Forest, Hampshire, yesterday when she was bitten by an 18in-long adder.

Her father Kenny called 999 and she was taken to the intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital.

Butcher said his daughter was in "absolute agony" as her leg went black as she suffered an allergic reaction to the bite. He said that doctors decided to give her antivenom as the bruising got worse, and she was transferred to a general ward.

Butcher said: "We went up to the New Forest for a walk with friends. We were walking back to the car when my daughter gave out a yelp.

"I thought she had stood on a nettle, but when I looked down I saw the snake slithering away and saw the puncture marks on her foot."