|
1-10 of 31 messages
|
Page 1 of 4
Next
|
|
Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rate Ri
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on May 1, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/01/snake-bite-trend-alarms-rescue-workers/
Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rate Rising
By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune
Published: May 1, 2008
TAMPA - A deadly pet cobra that bit its owner this week is part of a growing trend of venomous bites that has some emergency rescue workers squirming.
"It has been on the rise," said Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Venom Response Team Lt. Eddie Ballester. The team houses an antivenin bank that helps treat poisonous snakebite victims across the Southeast United States.
"More and more people are getting these permits," he said, "and many are just so they can have these snakes as pets. Along with that, unfortunately we are seeing an increase in bites."
Some are for those who milk their snakes and sell the venom to others who make and bottle antivenin, he said. Others breed and sell them.
"But," he said. "We are finding that a majority are for pets."
And many are for snakes that are not indigenous to Florida.
The most recent such bite occurred in Bushnell just after midnight Wednesday.
Jack Eugene Hildreth, 50, of 1620 N. West St., Bushnell, called 911 at 12:21 a.m., and told the dispatcher he had been bitten by his pet Indian cobra. He was conscious when paramedics arrived but lost consciousness soon thereafter, authorities said. He was taken to Leesburg Regional Medical Center and then flown to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the incident, but so far investigators have been unable to interview Hildreth about the bite because of his condition.
Hildreth received a permit from the state commission to possess venomous reptiles. His permit expires Jan. 7.
Commission spokeswoman Joy Hill said Hildreth on Thursday did regain consciousness at the hospital, but it would be at least a few days before he could be interviewed by investigators.
"He's not really in a position to talk to us right now," she said early this afternoon.
Investigators will go by his home to inspect the cages, she said, but it doesn't appear anything was out of order.
It was just one of those things, she said.
"If you have snakes," she said, "you are going to get bit."
It took 20 vials of Indian cobra antivenin to treat Hildreth, Ballester said, and that's a lot.
The South Florida team flew 10 vials up early Wednesday morning and then doubled that amount Wednesday afternoon. Hildreth was in critical but stable condition at the Orlando hospital on Wednesday. His condition today was unavailable per his family's request, a hospital spokesman said.
Ballester said Hildreth required more antivenin than usual.
"He needed more antivenin because it was such a venomous bite," he said.
Twenty vials, he said, "is a significant amount."
Antivenins are as varied as the venomous snakes out there, and a snakebite by a specific poisonous snake requires an antidote specific to that snake. The antivenin bank has antidotes for every kind of venomous snake alive, Ballester said.
So, knowing what kind of snake is involved is critical, he said.
"Often, we will inform the victim of a snakebite that, even if he or she destroys the snake, not to discard it," Ballester said. "Take a picture of it. Anything so we may properly match it to an antivenin."
Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by Chance on May 1, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
"Antivenins are as varied as the venomous snakes out there, and a snakebite by a specific poisonous snake requires an antidote specific to that snake. The antivenin bank has antidotes for every kind of venomous snake alive, Ballester said."
Is this guy going for a Masters in Exaggeration? It's bad enough that he's using this man's unfortunate encounter with his Naja to try to bash the fact that people keep these as "pets," but then to blatantly lie like that is even worse. So there are no A/Vs that cover a broad range of species? And they have A/V suited for Atheris, Aspidelaps, Pseudohaje, and any other innumerable species for which no A/V is even produced? (Including the US's own Micrurus, which will be without A/V in short order.) Please. He needs to get off his anti-captive reptile platform and do his job.
You know it's funny - FL is always upheld by most in the venomous community as the epitome of what other states should do to protect keepers' rights. If all it takes is a poorly-timed bite to an individual keeper within the state to potentially set off a spree of new laws, then something is obviously amiss within the system. I know it's been said before and even I've said it, but it feels more and more like our hobby is truly coming to an end in this country. Everything is lining up in place and legislators and activist groups are jumping on board. A bite like this may be the final tipping point in this battle.
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on May 1, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Write a letter to the writer and editor and set the record straight, that is what I do, sometimes I get published, other times I don't, but at least I try
Z
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on May 1, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
This link once again has map with FL venomous owners included. I also wrote to the author to clarify that this paragraph, that it includes mostly wild snakes caused fatalities, not captive pets.
Z
<< Dogs kill three times more people than do snakes, according to data provided by the state wildlife agency.
Deaths from venomous snake bites averaged about five per year from 1991 to 2001.>>
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-bk-cobra-bites-man-050108,0,2063912.story
Condition of Sumter man bitten by cobra unknown
Willoughby Mariano
Sentinel Staff Writer
2:17 PM EDT, May 1, 2008
The condition of a man believed to have been bitten by a cobra is still unknown today because hospital officials declined to release any information.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman said Jack Eugene Hildreth, 50, of Bushnell, was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center Wednesday after he told emergency operators that an exotic, venomous cobra had bitten him on the thumb.
Joy Hill, of the wildlife commission, said Hildreth spoke to rescue workers immediately after the attack but later lost consciousness shortly afterward. He was in critical but stable condition late Wednesday.
A special antivenin bank in Miami-Dade County flew two shipments of the substance to ORMC to combat the poison.
Deadly snakebites are extremely rare, Hill said.
Dogs kill three times more people than do snakes, according to data provided by the state wildlife agency.
Deaths from venomous snake bites averaged about five per year from 1991 to 2001.
Cobras are not indigenous to Florida, and reports of bites are unusual, Hill said.
Owners must be licensed by the state to keep venomous reptiles, a process that requires that they submit lists of their poisonous snakes and letters of recommendation, and demonstrate they have experience with the animals.
Hildreth's license expires in January, she said.
Cobra bites are extremely dangerous, said George VanHorn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, which extracts snake venom and sells it for research purposes.
The poison paralyzes muscles, making it difficult, if not impossible, to move, talk or breathe.
But hearing and sight remain, said VanHorn, who also had to fight for his life after being bitten by a king cobra in 1995.
"If this guy's lying on a table, and they're asking, 'What venom is it?' he can hear, but he can't tell them anything," VanHorn said.
This is the second time in a year that a bite from one of Hildreth's snakes has drawn attention from authorities.
In June, a thief stole five snakes -- two of them venomous -- from Hildreth's backyard serpentarium in the 1600 block of N. West Street, according to a Sumter County Sheriff's Office report.
Jonathan LaFever, 21, of Bushnell was arrested in the case after Wal-Mart workers found him in a bathroom stall, bleeding from a snakebite.
LaFever told deputies he drank four beers before taking the snakes during a burglary spree in which he broke into cars and stole a cell phone, digital camera, pencils and a drivers license, among other things, according to a report.
LaFever is serving five years in state prison on burglary and theft charges.
On Wednesday, Hildreth told rescue workers that an Indian cobra bit him, said Capt. Ernie Jillson, who is in charge of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Venom Response Team, which shipped antivenin to Orlando for Hildreth.
Team members shipped 10 vials of that snake's antivenin to Orlando about 6 a.m., Jillson said.
But Hildreth didn't respond to the medicine as well as doctors hoped, so 10 more vials of the same antivenin plus 10 more of a different type were shipped in.
Indian cobras are rare in the United States because India has stopped exporting the animal, VanHorn said.
Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on May 1, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Actually according to my data, nobody ever died in FL from captive venomous snake, all were wild deaths.
The 'dangerous' exotic fatalities so far in FL are tigers and elephants, simply because FL has high concentration of circus people, which brings elephant/tiger average higher than Alaska for example.
http://www.rexano.org/StatePages/FlExoticDeaths.pdf
Z
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by yoyoing on May 2, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
I don't see any suggestion about new laws in FL after this bite.
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by Chance on May 2, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
Not yet you don't, but when you have a representative from the Miami Venom Response Unit going on and on about how these animals are kept as pets in an obviously derogatory manner, it probably won't be long. I certainly don't hope they make new laws, but I wouldn't be surprised.
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by Cro on May 2, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
It is unfortunate that someone from the Miami Venom Response Unit would perhaps talk a bit too much when a microphone was stuck in his face by a reporter.
However, those guys do a super job, and they have to get frustrated when people get bitten by venomous pets that they are keeping, but perhaps should not be keeping. Especially if the bitten person was doing something stupid in the process. Alcahol consumption plays an unfortunate role in many venomous snake bites, as does free handling.
I keep venomous snakes for research, education, and breeding them to support my research. I do not consider any of the animals that I keep to be "Pets."
I believe that is a big difference, as many folks keep venomous snakes and do consider them "Pets." Some of those folks are keeping them for the coolness factor, and that can become dangerous.
I know that years ago, the Reptile Curator of Atlanta Zoo got tired of getting calls at 1:00 a.m. from hospitals in the southeastern states because someone had gotten bitten by their pet Indian Cobra. He would have to get out of bed, drive 30 minutes to the zoo to get the Antivenom, then drive 30 minutes to the Atlanta airport to get the Antivenom onto a flight.
Then the zoo would have to wait months to replace the Antivenom, which endangered its keepers. This would happen several times a year.
At that time about 90 % of the exotic snake bites were from Indian Cobras, as it was in the days before reptile shows, and not many animals were available to the general public. Most of the bitten folks were young males with a cool pet Indian Cobra.
Well, the zoo Curator solved the problem by giving the Indian Cobras that the Atlanta Zoo had on display to another zoo. Because they had no Indian Cobras, they no longer needed to keep Antivenom for Indian Cobras.
This pretty much ended the middle of the night calls for Antivenom, unless they came from another Zoo for a bite from something other than an Indian Cobra.
My point in this long story though, is that the folks at Venom One, etc get tired of saving the lives of people who do dumb things with venomous snakes. Sure, they will continue to do it. It is their job. But you should never assume that they are not going to get frustrated when they see folks make the same mistakes time and time again. The same can be said for any of the under-paid, under-appreciated folks who drive the EMS Ambulances, Fire Trucks, Police Cars, or the trauma center workers, who do their jobs day after day. After a while, it is easy to see why they start to think that no one should be keeping venomous animals, or driving a car, or keeping pit bull dogs, or doing home electrical repairs, or riding a subway, or golfing during a thunderstorm, etc, etc, etc......
Just don't take these folks for granted, or assume that they will always be there to bail you out if you manage to get bitten by your pet cobra.
Best Regards JohnZ
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on May 2, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Cro, it is not that I disagree with you, I kind of agree, but people are free to choose their job and are free to leave and do job change.
To switch the sides, I get tired of some AR leaning animal control, AC, folks (not my current AC folks, my current AC folks are awesome), who complain they at times , like 2 times per year, have to take exotic animal calls, I am like: “where in your*&%$$g job description does it say your calls should be domestic variety only?”
If you don’t like your job, QUIT. Stop complaining! I hate whiners & Not doers, not attractive.
Same with sanctuaries/rescues, they complain they get calls about animals needing new homes, and I am like: gee, u r in %^**%$#g rescue business, what kind of calls do you expect???
So do you want me to call you to tell you my pets are well taken care of and do NOT need toy help? Considering MOST exotics are well taken care of, I am sure these rescues would soon get tired of having to answer 24/7 happy spoiled pets calls, even at 3AM from happy exotic pet owners who just wants to share how much s/he loves their python.
-if u r a teacher and start hating kids , QUIT your job
-if u r paramedic and get sick of seeign blood, QUIT your job
-if u r exotic rescue whose pet collection is complete, STOP takign money for your pets, QUIT your non profit give me dough status
End of my rant ;-)
Z
|
| |
|
RE: Venom Response Team Lt.: Florida Snakebite Rat
|
Reply
|
|
by MattHarris on May 3, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Folks,
You unfortunately have forgotten the #1 rule when reading newstories....have the reporters verified their facts?
Rather than bashing the Miami-Dade FD A/V Response team, if you knew the guys on the team, you would realize that the guy bashing private ownership is NOT EVEN ON the a/v response team. Most of the a/v response team members keep animals themselves, so they are extremely unlikely to talk against private ownership. They're great guys and experts at what they do.
In addition, the reason the a/v was not effective at treating the bite was likely because the patient may have (and quite possibly) told the doctors the wrong species of snake....information I've heard indicated that it wasn't even a cobra species that bit him.
Again, the reporters are inaccurate(though you'd have to let them slide if in fact the patient told the hospital that it was a cobra, because even the Miami-DADE FD was told to send Cobra A/V) The Lt. from the other F.D. should be reprimanded for falsely stating he was part of the a/v response team.
Given the bite was late at night, it likely was a result of working around snakes when you are too tired, which keepers generally know is a no-no!
MH
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
