Daily Reptile News

79-year-old survives rattlesnake bite

PHOENIX — An elderly Coolidge man has a tale to tell after being bitten on the hand by a four-foot-long rattlesnake.

Robert Wondzell is in great spirits, looking forward to turning 80 and getting married this summer.

He almost didn’t make it.

From his room at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital, Wondzell shows his hand which was pierced by a rattler’s fangs.

“You can see the two marks. One of them is disappearing… It’s a little bit painful.”

Wondzell said he’s played catch-and-release with rattlers he’s found near his Coolidge trailer nearly two dozen times.

He doesn’t want to kill the snakes.

“They’re part of the environment. They have a place in nature’s scheme of things.”

His latest encounter came as he sat under a tree outside his trailer..

“The dogs barking woke me up, and then I heard a rattlesnake’s tail and I thought, `Oh, oh, I’d better do something.'”

He grabbed his home-made snake stick.

“I put the snake in the car and decided to take him for a two-mile ride and then release him. Well, at the point of release, he decided to bite me.”

The bite hasn’t changed Wondzell’s belief that snakes have a place in the desert and shouldn’t be killed. He said his bite was just “an accident.”

His advice for people in areas where snakes might lurk: “Walk very carefully and listen carefully and when you hear a snake rattle, stop in your tracks.”

Reptile Enthusiast’s Girlfriend Wants Separate Trial

MILWAUKEE – The couple blamed for keeping hundreds of exotic reptiles in horrid conditions appeared together in court for the first time. Terry Cullen and Jane Flint sat next to each other Tuesday, but Flint’s attorney will push for a trial separate from Cullen.

Both are charged with animal cruelty, but Cullen faces more serious accusations of sexually assaulting a woman who wanted an internship.

Flint’s attorney contends it’s unfair to bring her into the assault case.

Prosecutors argue evidence overlaps and splitting the cases would waste resources.

Most of the reptiles are in the care of volunteers at the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC), but prosecutors say they need a more permanent home. Some animals are the Racine Zoo and Wisconsin Humane Society.

“There is an urgent need for us to provide appropriate foster care,” said prosecutor Sara Lewis.

Questions linger over who actually owns the snakes, turtles, alligators and spiders. Cullen, Flint and their attorneys were recently allowed to see the animals at MADACC, but have not said publicly if will they fight to keep them.

“There remains animals we haven’t had an opportunity that we are asserting the right to view before they leave,” said Robert Dvorak, Flint’s attorney.

Some animals zoos loaned to Cullen have already been returned. Prosecutors want to place the rest in facilities certified by the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK).

A judge is expected to make a decision in August the motion for separate trials.

Man in court over gecko theft

A man will appear in court today charged with the theft of more than 20 geckos taken from two separate locations in Northland over the past 10 days.

This followed a raid on a rural property west of Whangarei yesterday during which at least 15 geckos were recovered by police and Department of Conservation (DOC) staff.

Acting police sergeant Christian Stainton said that a 19-year-old unemployed Whangarei man would appear in Whangarei District Court today facing two charges of burglary.

They were at Whangarei Museum on June 28-29 when seven forest geckos were stolen, and Ti Point Reptile Park, Warkworth, on June 27 when 16 green geckos were taken.

He thanked the public for their help in tracking down the geckos which were currently being cared for by DOC.

Python found in empty locker

While collecting abandoned textbooks and cleaning up the messes left by high school students, a janitor, Ed Reardon, came upon one locker that had a python in it. It is questionable why someone would leave an animal alone to suffer without food and water. However, the snake is in good hands now…at a local pet shop, who kindly took the pet off the Reardon’s hands.

Woman Bitten By Snake At Ohiopyle State Park

A 23-year-old woman from central Pennsylvania faced a premature end to her holiday festivities when she was bitten by a poisonous snake at Ohiopyle in Fayette County this weekend.

It happened at about 11:45 p.m. Friday.

“They were carrying their stuff back to their campsite, the girl felt something bite her foot and immediately told the people that she was with,” Stacie Faust, assistant manager at Ohiopyle State Park, said.

She was flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland and treated with anti-venom.

A quick-thinking friend may have saved her life.

“The guy luckily saw the snake and killed it, and that was how we were able to easily identify it, that it was indeed a copperhead,” Faust said.

Northern Copperheads are the most common type of poisonous snake in western Pennsylvania. They have been spotted in many counties in the area, including Allegheny, Westmoreland and Butler.

UPMC Toxicologist Dr. Kenneth Katz offered advice on what people should do if they are ever bitten by a snake.

“Do not apply ice. Do not apply tourniquets. Do not use suction kits,” he said.

These actions could be harmful to the victim.

Faust suggests people use caution while at Ohiopyle.

“It’s not uncommon to find them scattered throughout the park. If there are rock piles, brushy areas, it’s good to avoid those areas,” she said.

For the victim of this particular snake bite, there was a happy ending. She refused to let the incident dampen her spirits and even wanted to go back to the campground after being treated and released.

Poaching snakes for food on rise

The use of snakes in “stamina booster” concoctions has increased nine fold in the past two years, due to celebrities’ testimonies and a growing “health craze,” the Ministry of the Environment said Monday.

According to a report given to Rep. Cha Myeong-jin of the Grand National Party by the ministry, the number of snakes dealt through poachers caught by police was 1,834 last year, compared to 205 in 2007 and 452 in 2008.

“Conventionally, large mammals such as wild boars or elks were popular with poachers but for the past several years, the portion of snakes has swelled,” a ministry official said.

The authorities suspect sports stars and other celebrities’ praise and confessions of having eaten such animals to boost their stamina – which is widely considered an urban myth – has been attributed to the new trend.

The authorities have stressed that eating or distributing snake meat is illegal and subject to up to 5 million won in fines or imprisonment for up to one year. Those who poach wildlife are subject to up to two years in jail or a 10 million won fine.

The poaching has become systemized, Cha claimed. The number of poachers caught in 2009 was 812, slightly fewer than the 940 in 2008 and 910 in 2007.

But the number of animals found rose from 3.93 per person in 2007 to 5.02 in 2008 and 10.19 in 2009.

The number of traps and snares confiscated rose to 26,982 in 2009 from 11,348 in 2007 and 9,843 in 2008.

“We need a thorough investigation into the businesses that damages our wildlife environment,” Rep. Cha said.

The ministry is conducting a crackdown on snake meat distributors and poachers until July 15.

Bills against animal abuse

In the meantime, ruling and opposition party members are moving to revise laws governing animal abuse.

Rep. Bae Eun-hee of the ruling Grand National Party submitted an amendment to the Animal Protection Law, Monday. The revision bans the posting of video clips or photographs showing animal abuse on the Internet, with violators being fined up to 1 million won.

Lawmakers are also moving to propose other bills to prevent other types of animal abuse. Their move comes after a woman was booked on suspicion of having savagely beaten and thrown a neighbor’s cat from the 10th floor of her officetel last month.

4m-long croc eats freshwater relative

A boatload of tourists was treated to a gruesome show when a monster saltwater crocodile made a snack out of a smaller relative in a Northern Territory swamp.

Tourists took photographs as the creatures fought each other in the Adelaide Swamp, about 70km southeast of Darwin, last month, the NT News reports.

The group was travelling with Wallaroo Eco Tours when guide and owner Adam Bowman saw the larger reptile lurking in the water.

“Suddenly there they were — a 4m saltwater crocodile dragging a 2m freshwater crocodile around in the water,” Mr Bowman was quoted as saying.

The smaller crocodile tried to free itself but was trapped inside the larger reptile’s jaws.

“There was a fair bit of shaking going on, before they went underwater,” Mr Bowman said.

“The saltie would have ripped him to pieces.”

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