PRESS REGISTER (Mobile, Alabama) 06 June 08 Man accused of housing dangerous snakes, gators (Jillian Kramer)
When authorities removed seven venomous reptiles and American alligators from shed-like Solomon's Snake Shop Tuesday, the store's owner became the center of one of the weirder illegal animal cases conservation officials said they can recall.
Michael Paul Solomon was hoarding a monocled cobra, two rhinoceros vipers, two tentacle water snakes and two alligators in his mobile home on Bush Lane in Tillman's Corner, according to a news release from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The animals were confiscated and Solomon arrested Tuesday by conservation enforcement officers.
"This is very uncommon," said Lt. Michael Bloxom, who added that Solomon, 32, intended to sell the nonindigenous reptiles from a shop behind his home. That shop — a gray storage building with a brightly colored sign announcing its name in hand-painted letters — is surrounded by other homes and a daycare facility.
Solomon's house also serves as Solomon's Insurance Agency, a Progressive Auto Insurance company, according to signs at the residence.
A Press-Register reporter visited with an insurance agent Thursday afternoon, who spoke for Solomon and declined to comment.
Lack of security Bloxom said Solomon kept the reptiles in glass aquariums "fit for common snakes, and they weren't padlocked or secured in any greater manner than you would secure a common snake."
Solomon bought the reptiles online from a store in Florida, which Bloxom declined to name Thursday.
It's illegal for Alabama residents to own or sell nonindigenous venomous reptiles, according to the news release.
In that same release, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Enforcement Chief Allan Andress said, "The illegal commercialization of wildlife and the introduction of injurious species are two of the greatest threats to our natural resources, and in this case public safety."
The monocled cobra has powerful venom that attacks a victim's organs and muscles and can cause almost instantaneous death, while the rhinoceros vipers are considered one of the most dangerous varieties of snakes of Africa and strikes quickly to kill, according to the release.
The tentacle water snake has very mild poison and is not considered dangerous.
Solomon was charged with illegally possessing the reptiles — a misdemeanor offense — fined and released from custody, Bloxom said.


Man accused of housing dangerous snakes, gators

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• AL Press: Man accused of housing snakes - W von Papineäu, Mon Jun 9 18:17:31 2008