A German man was hospitalized Saturday after he was dared to lick a venomous snake during his bachelor party in the Austrian Alps.
After the incident was reported, a mountain rescue operations team and a doctor were called and the 38-year-old man was taken to a nearby hospital, the Associated Press reported. The local Red Cross organization stated that the man was bit on the tongue after fellow partygoers dared him to lick the snake, according to the Austria Press Agency.
The snake was reported to be a baby viper found inside the mountainside hut where the man was hosting his bachelor party, near Neuberg im Muerztal in southeastern Austria, according to the Associated Press. (RELATED: Irish Man Bitten By Snake For The First Time In History)
A European common viper reveals its fangs before attacking (Screenshot/Nature TV Lothar Lenz via YouTube)
Although the species of the snake was unspecified, it was likely the common European viper, a venomous snake that is extremely widespread throughout most of Western Europe. A 7-year-old boy was hospitalized in 2016 after he was bitten by the viper, and a 35-year-old man was bitten on a street in Vienna around the same time, according to Austrian news network The Local.
European vipers are generally not aggressive and only bite when alarmed or disturbed, according to The Local. The snakes also only release a small amount of venom during an attack, and although the venom is highly poisonous, the toxin only presents a significant danger to children, according to science journal Nature.
The condition of the German bachelor is unclear, and the Red Cross stated that the partygoers likely confused the baby snake with a worm, the Associated Press reported.