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W von Papineäu
at Wed Aug 6 12:09:33 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by W von Papineäu ]
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER (Ohio) 06 August 03 No such thing as tame deadly snake - Exotic pets 'time bombs waiting to go off' (Janice Morse)
Michael Peterman knew more about exotic snakes than most pet owners know about their cats and dogs.
But Peterman's rhinoceros viper suddenly struck as he fed the animal with a long pair of tongs, the African snake's fangs shooting venom into his hand. Within hours, Peterman, a 48-year-old firefighter in Dayton, Ohio, was pronounced dead at University Hospital on Monday - the Tristate's latest and most tragic example of what can go wrong when people adopt wild or exotic animals as pets.
"This guy had experience handling these animals. He knew exactly what he was doing," said Tim Harrison, a Southwestern Ohio wildlife rescuer who had worked with Peterman to secure several snakes on the loose.
"When someone with all that knowledge and skill dies, that scares people like me - and it should absolutely petrify everyone else."
Even more frightening, Harrison said, is this estimate: One in five American homes has an exotic pet - an animal that doesn't belong in the United States.
"This means there's a possibility that, in your own neighborhood, you can run into something that can kill you, make you ill, or scare the wee-wee out of you," Harrison said.
In a perverse version of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, Americans seem bent on acquiring the weirdest animals possible, Harrison said, with few laws and little enforcement standing in the way. But as the exotic-pet trade grows, so do the risks - to the owners, health professionals, police and the general public.
In the end, the animals themselves are victims.
"People say they honestly love these animals, but they're loving them to death," Harrison said, "because every one of these animals is going to be put down if there's a problem.''
Earlier this year, the nation's first outbreak of monkeypox, an African illness resembling a milder version of smallpox, was traced to an exotic animal dealer in the Chicago area - a health scare that also affected Butler County. A wallaby bought from the same dealer ended up at a show-and-tell session at a Trenton elementary school.
School and health officials warned the public to watch for signs of infection. Now, almost two months later, the situation remains unresolved.
Patricia Burg, Butler's health department director, said it's a relief that the incubation period has passed, and there have been no additional reports of illness.
However, one person is still undergoing additional tests, Burg said.
Attempts to test the animal for monkeypox were unsuccessful, and Burg is still trying to find out why.
Burg recalled that several years ago at least two lions were being kept in the county as pets. One owner had the attitude, she said, that if it gets to be a problem, we'll give it to the zoo. But zoos reject animals with unknown health histories because they can't risk infecting their populations, Burg said.
She said her department contacted dozens of agencies and found no one willing to adopt one of the lions. She thinks that animal eventually was euthanized.
Many people don't seem to think through the consequences of owning an exotic animal - and may not realize they are illegal in many areas, Burg said. Butler County prohibits anyone from keeping an exotic or wild animal as a pet.
"Obviously, we can't go door to door and see what kind of pets you have," she said, "but people need to know that if we become aware of a situation, we can take action."
In Warren County, authorities have spent untold hours searching for a lion that may be on the loose. On July 2, a Deerfield man reported sightings of the animal.
"As far as whether it exists, we can't say 'Yes' and would never say 'No,' " said Sheriff Tom Ariss, "but we haven't had any other sightings. We haven't heard anything in several weeks."
Harrison, the exotic-animal rescuer, said he knows of four other people who are raising big cats in Warren County - but Ariss wouldn't comment on that report Tuesday, saying people don't have to register their exotic animals with his office.
Harrison said that's part of the problem: There's no way to know who has exotic animals or where they are being kept.
In fact, Harrison said, although he was acquainted with Peterman, the firefighter who died after the snakebite, Peterman never disclosed that he owned "hot" snakes - dangerous, venomous ones.
Some of Peterman's fellow firefighters knew he owned such snakes, said Lacey Calloway, assistant fire chief in Dayton. But they also knew Peterman had been bitten before and survived.
So the 400-member department was stunned by the death of Peterman, the first active-duty Dayton firefighter to die in five years, Calloway said.
"One person commented to me, 'He knew how to handle those things so well,' so they're pretty much in disbelief that one of them bit him with this result," Calloway said.
But the rhino viper's bite is one of the world's most deadly, Harrison said.
Peterman's wife tried driving him to the hospital, Calloway said. But his condition deteriorated quickly; she sought help at a fire station on the way. Fellow firefighters - who knew Peterman - tried to save his life as they took him to Miami Valley Hospital.
Then, Harrison said, Peterman received several doses of antivenin, flown from other locations to Dayton. He was flown to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead by the time an additional supply of antivenin arrived from Miami, Fla.
"I just want to sit down and cry today," Harrison said Tuesday, reflecting on Peterman's death. "I wonder: Why didn't he listen to me?
"Like I tell anyone who has venomous snakes, big cats or large predators: They're all time bombs waiting to go off. There's no such thing as a tamed wild animal."
Exotic pets 'time bombs waiting to go off'
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 OH Press: Exotic pets 'time bombs waiting to go off' - W von Papineäu, Wed Aug 6 12:09:33 2003
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