The woman had soaked the snake in wine for three months in preparation for making snake wine or shejiu.
In China many believe the concoction has the ability to lessen or eliminate rheumatism.
As the woman was pouring the wine from the container the snake “woke up” and bit her.
After being bitten the victim was taken to a hospital and saved but probably won’t be making any more snake wine in the near future.
It’s widely known that snakes can go into deep hibernation requiring only oxygen to survive. In this case it seems the lid was not tight enough on the jar and the viper survived the soaking.
Animal activists argue that putting a snake or any creature in a jar and trying to pickle it constitutes inhumane actions.
They say the animal dies slowly and painfully and keeping them is unsafe to begin with.
The pit viper was killed after the incident.