Where was Little Bear? We had just finished our water and wildlife survey and were headed back up a steep ravine, high on the mountain. Little Bear was a ‘coydog’ (half coyote), tall and lanky, who loved to run and would cover miles in a day. We decided to take off without him, knowing he would easily catch up as we bounced slowly over the rough terrain. As we stopped at the first gate, I turned and saw the dark figure coming at a slow run to catch up. Something was very wrong, he was struggling and his head was down. Then I caught sight of the foam and heavy saliva pouring out of his mouth. I reached down to lift his chin to get a better look, and his entire neck was swollen like a massive pouch. I knew what had happened -- snake bite. My heart lurched; he had just pumped all that poison through his system trying to keep up. We were miles from the ranch house and an additional hour to the nearest vet. Bear collapsed into the lap of my friend Denise in the back seat, and Mom began to pray as I recklessly began our flight off the mountain. Bear was crying with pain and then went quiet. Still miles from home, Denise begged me to stop and say goodbye to Bear. “Tana, he is dying there is almost no pulse anymore. His heart has nearly stopped.” I should be used to country living and all of the perils, accidents, and loss of life it brings, but this was still unacceptable.
My mother suddenly looked at me and said, “The star!” She reached under her shirt and trousers where she usually had what is now known as The Seed of Life. Denise placed the ‘star’ over Bear’s heart, checking for a pulse, while I bounced us down the mountain. Within a minute, I heard her soft voice, “I can feel his heart again.” By the time we reached the ranch house, Bear wanted up and tried to jump out of the vehicle. “We gave him Rescue Remedy and a couple of homemade tinctures of Hawthorne (for the heart) and Hound’s Tongue (an old Native remedy for snake bite). I called the vet and begged him to stay open.
An hour plus later, we arrived at the vet’s, and Bear was almost hard to contain. He jumped out of the truck and we herded him into the office. My friend, the vet, looked at me and inquired if this is the deathly ill snake bite victim. Then he asked if this was a growing abscess that I simply hadn’t noticed until now. Meanwhile, Bear was running around, evading our attempts to catch him and get him on the table. We showed Doc the bite marks and he said, “Well I’ll be, he should be in pretty bad shape by now. That swelling should have blocked his throat. He is lucky to be alive.” Bear was still whining and crying pitifully, but wanted no part of this place. Doc said that these bites were extremely painful.
Bear received his shots, a lot of praise, and had a miraculous recovery over the next couple of days. Of course, he slept with the star and wore a ring around his throat, too.
-T.B., MT
