Thanks to Al for the lead on this one ... the year goes out with a bang!



KSDK (St Louis, Missouri) 31 December 05 St. Louis County Man Injured By Cobra Bite

A St. Louis county man is in stable condition Saturday night after he was bitten by a snake.

He was feeding the black spitting cobra when it bit him on the finger. The director of the St. Louis Zoo says in a situation like this, time is critical.

"The cobra has a neurotoxic venom and shuts down the body functions if it's been invenomated enough," says Dr. Bill Boever.

St. Louis Metro Air Support flew the anti-venom from the St. Louis Police Mounted Patrol Barn near Forest Park to St. Anthony's Hospital, where the victim was taken following the bite.

Because of the infrequency of snakebites in our area, hospitals usually don't carry the antivenom. Boever says it's been ten years since the zoo's services were last requested for a snake bite.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=90082



POST-DISPATCH (St Louis, Missouri) 31 December 05 Man is bitten by cobra he keeps as pet

A man from south St. Louis County was bitten by a cobra on Saturday as he was trying to feed the creature, which he kept as a pet.

He was rushed to St. Anthony's Medical Center. St. Louis County police used its helicopter to airlift cobra anti-venom from the St. Louis Zoo to the hospital.

Police and the hospital declined to make public the name of the bite victim or his condition. Police did not provide additional information about the incident.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/A413B561FAF4FFB2862570E9001E74F2?OpenDocument

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