Poisonous snake lurking in suburban Geneva

GENEVA, Ill. (WLS) -- In suburban Geneva, the hunt is on. Through thick brush, across a lake and in backyards, people are looking for a poisonous cottonmouth snake.

It was spotted not once, but twice in recent days curled up next to a house in Geneva.

"It could definitely kill you if you get bit and your blood starts to hemorrhage and you can bleed internally and die," said Brad Lundsteen, of the Suburban Wildlife Control. "That's the way they kill their prey."

The venomous snake is usually found in the southeastern U.S., sometimes even in southern Illinois. It's unclear how the snake made its way to the western suburbs. One concern is that local hospitals don't carry anti-venom.

Lundsteen and his wife, Katy Lundsteen, usually respond to calls about bats, raccoons and skunks. Now, it's snakes.

"It's not that they're particularly aggressive, that they'll go after humans, but if somebody walked by, yeah, it's going to lunge at you because it feels threatened," Katy Lundsteen said.

In a neighborhood with countless kids, the snake search is taken very seriously.

"It's very scary," said Geneva resident Katie Marr. "I can't even let my kids go outside right now."

Katy Lundsteen said the snake could be hiding under a bush, plant, log or rock.

The Lundsteens did find one Tuesday night, but not the potentially deadly cottonmouth.

But this couple vows to continue the hunt.

"I'm not giving up until we find it because so many children are out here," Katy Lundsteen said.

UPDATE: We were originally told the snake photo that accompanied this story was an image of the actual snake spotted twice alongside a Geneva home. It was not. The person who saw the snake apparently searched the internet to find a picture of a snake that looked similar to the one he saw and then shared it with several homeowners and Suburban Wildlife Control. Due to a language barrier, the people who received the photo mistakenly believed it was an image of the actual snake. Nonetheless, Suburban Wildlife Control is back in the area today setting traps for the snake. "If I catch a big black snake that's not a cottonmouth, at least I can put the public's mind at ease," Brand Lundsteen of Suburban Wildlife Control told ABC7 Wednesday morning.