TAMPA TRIBUNE (Florida) 22 September 03 Public Venom Rising Over Poisonous Pets (Ted Byrd)
Tampa After a couple of escapes by big snakes and one life-threatening bite from a deadly black mamba this summer, people are calling for tighter regulation of wild animal ownership.
Hillsborough County leaders are listening.
For a couple of months the county has been compiling a database of dogs legally deemed dangerous, something along the lines of the state's searchable sexual predator list. Now officials say they will consider the same for owners of dangerous exotic animals, from snakes to tigers.
``I'm not trying to prevent anyone from having them. I just think it needs to be done more responsibly,'' said Laura Ardry, a resident of Countryside Village Mobile Home Park in Town 'N Country.
In August, a 12-foot Burmese python named Baby slipped out of its cage and worried neighbors in the East Richmere Street area. In July, a 6-foot boa constrictor named Pedro was on the loose. And Ardry lives next to Russell Lee Anderson, who was hospitalized after being bitten a half-dozen times by his African black mamba a month ago.
Authorities said Anderson, who is married with four children, kept 25 other venomous snakes in the family's house. Neighbors didn't know about the reptiles.
Ardry said she doesn't oppose having animals, pointing out she has two cats, three dogs and seven birds. But the mamba episode unnerved her and other neighbors who also had heard about two pygmy rattlesnake bites on public school campuses in August. Those snakes were wild, not escaped pets.
``We've had a lot of escapes and bites lately in the county that could have been prevented,'' Ardry said. ``We have more guidelines for dogs and cats than for these guys.''
Two county commissioners expressed similar concerns.
``Black mambas are incredibly dangerous,'' Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms said. ``Is that crazy?''
Not really, according to handlers and the state inspectors who regulate them.
Although Floridians don't need permits or training to buy boa constrictors, they do for venomous snakes or other wild animals, from skunks to elephants. And for most, people need 1,000 hours of training with the species they want to own.
``We've got some pretty good regulations out there,'' said Lt. John West, an investigator with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Tallahassee.
The commission lists about 340 permits for wild animals issued in Florida, including those for handlers in zoos and wildlife parks. About a dozen wildlife officers conduct annual inspections.
Owners' Reasons Vary
Why would someone want to keep a cobra or a cougar?
``Someone likes to own a Chihuahua, and others want a pit bull,'' West said. ``Some people like to keep their feet on the ground; others like to bungee jump. A lot of people like to live on the edge, I guess.
``They can do that. They just have to do it responsibly.''
Larry Lemon of Sarasota has kept venomous snakes and other animals for 13 years, starting as a teenager to provoke his reptile-fearing father.
``Keeping a venomous reptile isn't as insane as it sounds,'' Lemon said. ``More people are killed by horses than are killed by venomous snakes in this country.''
A member of the Southeastern Hot Herp Society - hot means poisonous, and herp is short for herpetology - Lemon has about 50 animals these days. They range from Australian death adders to his own black mamba.
``They're a very unstudied animal because no one wants to keep them,'' he said. ``The more I learn, the more I want to learn.
``We're not dealing with dogs and cats that everyone knows how to keep. Keeping these animals, you have an immense responsibility to educate yourself on the `what if' situations. My outlook is, `If you get bit, you did something wrong.' ''
A List Of What's Where
Many people might be surprised by what's living around the corner, said Lt. Steve De Lacure, a state fish and wildlife investigator in Tampa. Kept animals include squirrel monkeys, bobcats, tigers and all stripes of snakes.
``Ever since that movie `Anaconda,' that snake's population has really increased,'' De Lacure said.
A South American water snake that can reach 20 feet in length, anacondas are among the world's largest and most powerful reptiles. There also are nonvenomous constrictors, so no permit or training is needed to own one - and that can lead to problems.
Exactly what local officials can do to regulate, or even track, exotic creatures isn't clear. But Hillsborough County has lawyers studying options, and there's serious consideration of a registry for the most dangerous.
``There should be a way for people to find out where they are,'' said Bill Armstrong, director of the Hillsborough County Animal Services Department. ``That information should be public.''
Commissioner Kathy Castor has heard from one neighborhood fighting an aviary of peacocks, a breed neither the state nor the county regulates.
``I know they're not quite analogous with venomous snakes,'' Castor said. ``But they're a nuisance, screeching all day.''
Public Venom Rising Over Poisonous Pets

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