KANSAS CITY STAR (Missouri) March 06 Snake expert can be a real lifesaver - In 33 years of owning snakes he�fs never been bitten, but Dana Savorelli knows what to do when a viper strikes (Lee Hill Kavanaugh)
For months the Mojave rattlesnake lay coiled behind the glass, a 32-inch-long time bomb.
It seemed docile. Even beautiful. And she had petted �gMr. Mojave�h before.
But this time was different. A twitch. One fang. A slight scratch and a tiny red dot rising on her right middle finger.
Her boyfriend called for help, then raced away after returning the rattler to its cage. The snake tucked its cold-blooded self back into a perfect �gO.�h
Alone, the 54-year-old Jackson County woman curled up on the kitchen�fs cool linoleum, hearing far-off sirens and feeling cold seep into her bones.
Mojave rattler venom is so potent that without intervention, death is swift.
She was fading like smoke.
But this time, a lucky coincidence. In a county where not even the city zoo keeps poisonous snakes, a sheriff�fs deputy knew of a world-renowned expert just miles away.
Dana Savorelli makes snake-handling equipment. He knows herpetologists, medical experts and serpentarium owners across the U.S. and abroad.
More than anything, Savorelli knows snakes.
Mojave rattler? He knew where to call. The California physician�fs number was in his cell phone, a lucky break that doctors at Medical Center of Independence say saved their patient�fs life.
Savorelli knows that when you live with snakes, you have to be prepared.
On this day, Savorelli, 45, of Greenwood, wears Marine desert combat fatigues and a sleeveless white T-shirt advertising the Snake Rescue Team.
He was 12 when he got his first snake. He now owns 29. Last month, he traveled to Sri Lanka, the world�fs snakebite capital. He saw mists whisper into the green mountains, marveled at the tea leaf trees, wondered how many Russell�fs vipers were lurking about.
Traveling there was more than just a whim. Savorelli went with other American experts who hoped to make a difference. Maybe by studying how Sri Lanka handles its snakebites, Western techniques could benefit from Eastern ways. Savorelli hopes he and his colleagues planted the seeds of a joint effort between two countries to improve snakebite treatments everywhere.
About 30,000 people worldwide die each year from snakebites. In the United States, 7,000 venomous snakebites are reported annually. About 15 are fatal.
Most hospitals never treat a snakebite victim. In most states, including Kansas and Missouri, antivenom for exotic poisonous species is hours away. With some snakes, hours would be too long.
�gA lot of people think you just get a booster shot of antivenom and it goes away. That�fs not the case,�h Savorelli says. �gBelieve me, it�fs not that easy.�h
Even with the correct antivenom, complications can kill victims just as easily as a poisonous snakebite, Savorelli says. If the dose is wrong, a victim could die after vital organs shut down. Doctors also must monitor such aftereffects as allergic reactions.
�gA responsible owner should do it just like a zoo does,�h Savorelli says. �gIf you have a poisonous snake, you should have the antivenom for that snake.
�g�c It�fs worth gold when you need it.�h
Savorelli keeps 250 vials of antivenom for different snakes, enough to counteract at least two strikes from each of his snakes. Savorelli has handled snakes for 33 years without being bitten, but he knows it�fs probably not a matter of if but when.
Savorelli�fs 10-acre place in southern Jackson County is a refuge for both warm- and cold-blooded animals. Bordered by an electric fence and gate, the property is monitored by more than a dozen motion detectors and cameras, some infrared.
As he sits at his desk inside his triple-padlocked office, an ostrich struts by, peeks in his window and pecks at the glass. Three llamas graze nearby.
One area that he calls �gMonkey Island�h is a sanctuary where he tries to give a reasonable life to primates that once were poked and prodded, abused and abandoned.
The snakes line two walls of his office, snoozing with eyes frozen open or watching all with a steely gaze. Perhaps waiting for a mistake. Probably waiting for a meal.
From several terrariums, low rattles erupt like miniature maracas. In one cage, a snake is shedding its skin. In another, an albino monocle cobra rises up, fully hooded in alarm, and slams itself into the glass fang-first.
Ignoring the snake, Savorelli lists the rest of his collection with practiced ease: mambas, cobras, pit vipers, krait, Gaboon viper, rhinoceros viper �c
One came from a bail-bonding business. Another, a late-night raid at a drug house. One was donated after its owner tired of the fear-factor machismo he briefly enjoyed by owning something that could kill him so easily.
�gWould you like to see that Mojave rattler that bit the Independence woman?�h
He stands on a chair and hoists a cage down. But this day the snake, which bit the woman last year on Valentine�fs Day, prefers to stay beneath an old newspaper. Savorelli lets it be.
Jeff Ettling, 41, is the curator of reptiles for the St. Louis Zoo. He has known Savorelli 15 years and has visited his Greenwood location several times.
�gDana�fs is a licensed sanctuary. He�fs inspected just like we are,�h Ettling says. �gHe�fs traveled as far as Michigan to rescue a baboon. His place is not an exhibit like ours, but he gives them a life. �c �h
In a world where exotic species are as close as the nearest Internet connection, Ettling says, �gDana is a good resource for you. �c There�fs probably more venomous snakes in the private sector than all the zoos combined.�h
According to a survey conducted last year by the American Pet Product Marketing Association, 4.4 million U.S. households own reptiles as pets; at least 30 percent of them are snakes. In Missouri, people must get a license to own an indigenous poisonous snake, but the laws don�ft apply to snakes from elsewhere. Kansas doesn�ft require licenses for poisonous snakes. In both states, local jurisdictions may impose limits.
Savorelli�fs snake-handling equipment company, Midwest Tongs, is known worldwide, says William Rauch, group publisher of Reptile Magazine in California.
�gHe owns the niche market,�h says Rauch, who also has visited Savorelli�fs place. �gHe is one of the most knowledgeable herpers in the U.S. �c They (the tongs) are the best in the world.�h
Savorelli�fs tongs and bagging systems are geared to specific types of snakes, Rauch says.
�gYou�fll find his tongs on every television show featuring snakes, every reality show that incorporates snakes, and in every zoo in America,�h Rauch says. �gHe�fs built a reputation.�h
Law enforcement authorities are glad for Savorelli�fs presence, says Independence Police Officer Phil Dickens, president of the Kansas City Herpetological Society.
Other officers call Dickens when a snake turns up at a crime scene. Dickens speed-dials Savorelli.
�gEven animal control officers aren�ft comfortable trying to contain snakes,�h he says. �gDana is.�h
Dickens recounted a raid on a drug house in the middle of the night where officers found four rattlesnakes.
�gDana has them now,�h he says.
Dickens says that even zoos call wanting information. He sends them to Savorelli, whom he has known 15 years.
�gHe�fs a mountain of knowledge,�h Dickens says. �gAnything you need to know, Dana will either know it already, or know who to call to ask.�h
Safety first
Phil Dickens, president of the Kansas City Herpetological Society, tells what to do if you should encounter a snake:
�� There is no safe way to handle a snake if you are not well-versed in doing so.
�� Never handle a snake without specially designed equipment.
�� The snake is more afraid of you than you are of it. Even if a rattlesnake is rattling, that is its way of letting you know, �gHere I am. Give me a wide berth. You go your way, I�fll go mine.�h
Snake expert can be a real lifesaver

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