Oklahoma man, 57, dies after rattlesnake bites him twice: 'Don't mess with snakes'

The man had wrangled snakes before, which is why he was confident he would be able to remove the rattler from the road. (Reuters)

A 57-year-old man in Oklahoma is dead after being bitten by a rattlesnake, his wife said.

Barry Lester was driving in Osage County on Sunday when he saw the snake in the middle of the road and decided to stop and move it out of the way, the Tulsa World reported.

But during the attempt the rattler bit him — twice.

“It bit his left hand, and then he put it in his right and it bit that hand too,” Lester's wife, Roberta, told the newspaper.

The couple was traveling to Keystone Lake when the incident occured.

“We were just going to walk and have a day outside enjoying the lake. It was his birthday,” she said.

After realizing he was bit, Barry told his wife they needed to go to the hospital. The couple rushed to meet the ambulance at their Turley home, which would then take Lester to a hospital in nearby Tulsa.

But then Lester's head suddenly dropped — and "that was it," Roberta said.

Emergency officials tried to revive the 57-year-old but it was too late. Barry died from a “combination of the rattlesnake bite and an existing heart condition," according to the Tulsa World.

Barry had wrangled snakes before, Roberta told the Tulsa World, which is why he was confident he would be able to remove the rattler from the road.

But now his wife has a warning for others: "Don’t mess with snakes. If you hear it rattling, you leave it alone.”