FREER, Texas — A rattlesnake handler from Freer, Texas, has died after he was bitten at the annual Rattlesnake Roundup event in South Texas.
According to KIII TV, Eugene De Leon Sr. was performing with and handling rattlesnakes in front of a crowd at the time of the incident. De Leon was bitten on the shoulder around 1 p.m. Saturday. He was taken to a hospital in Corpus Christi via helicopter but died around 9 p.m. the same evening.
De Leon had been handling rattlesnakes for more than 20 years, according to KIII TV.
His family took to Facebook to express that De Leon had passed “doing what he loved doing.”
A fundraiser was also started by his sister on Facebook to raise money for De Leon’s funeral.
The Rattlesnake Roundup is the largest annual festival in Freer.