A hiker died in Tennessee's Savage Gulf State Park after being bitten by a venomous snake, officials said Thursday.

Grundy County Emergency Management Agency personnel were dispatched to a trailhead in the park around 12:30 p.m. local time on August 8, agency director Matthew Griffith told CBS News in a statement. The unidentified hiker was about half a mile down the trail when first responders, including fire and rescue workers, EMS members and park rangers, arrived.

Griffith said a witness reported the man had picked up a snake, and the reptile then bit him on the hand. The snake is believed to be a timber rattlesnake, Griffith said.

The hiker was transported to an area hospital, Griffith said, and died from his injuries there.

Griffith said the hiker appeared to have died from an al

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