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THE PROVINCE (Vancouver, British Columbia) 09 December 07 Surrey man may lose hand after bite from cobra - Friend fuming that hospital doctors won't administer an anti-venom (Glenda Luymes)
A Surrey man may lose a finger -- or even a hand -- after being bitten by a poisonous pet cobra for which B.C. hospitals do not carry an anti-venom.
Jason Hansen, 36, was bitten Thursday night by a pet cobra at his home in Surrey.
Dalvin Corrival, a friend of Hansen's, said that the bite was "dry" and the cobra did not release venom, but the neurotoxins in its saliva have damaged the tissue in Hansen's hand.
"He's in danger of losing his hand. His finger is turning black and his arm is four times the normal size. He needs an anti-venom," Corrival said. He told The Province doctors had told him there was a high likelihood of tissue loss.
Corrival said doctors at Surrey Memorial Hospital are not willing to give Hansen an anti-venom, deciding instead to "wait and see."
Corrival also said that on Friday morning a "snake expert" friend of his who has developed an anti-venom sent a dose by air from northern B.C.
The doctors would not administer it, Corrival said.
"They won't treat him, and his arm is just getting worse and worse," said Corrival, adding that he plans to file a complaint against the hospital.
Fraser Health spokesman Stephen Harris said it's "up to the doctors to make the best clinical decision."
"A doctor cannot administer a drug without knowing what it is," he added in regards to the anti-venom provided by Corrival's friend.
If doctors decide to treat a patient with an anti-venom, the dose would have to be shipped from Seattle or Drumheller, Alta., said Debra Kent, supervisor of the B.C. Poison Control Centre.
B.C. hospitals do not keep specific and expensive anti-venoms for exotic snakes, carrying only rattlesnake anti-venom for the species native to the Okanagan.
"When private collectors keep snakes . . . whose job is it to supply the anti-venom?" asked Kent. "There is a process [to get anti-venom in an emergency], but it's not one I'd personally count on if I needed it for a cobra bite."
On hearing of the attack, animal-rights activists called it another example of why exotic pet ownership should be regulated in B.C.
"Why is it that there are no regulations for these animals?" said SPCA spokeswoman Lori Chortyk. "Without regulations, nobody has any idea who owns [them]. The neighbours might not even know there's a poisonous snake next door."
The SPCA is petitioning the provincial government to regulate the ownership of exotic animals by including them in the official definition of wildlife.
The Ministry of Environment is in the process of reviewing the Wildlife Act for the first time in 25 years. Currently, exotic animals are considered domestic and the provincial government has no authority to restrict their sale or ownership.
In changing the definition of wildlife to include exotic animals, the government could then regulate them.
Sara Dubois, manager of wildlife for the SPCA, told The Province last month that "it's a public-safety issue."
Pointing to the tiger-mauling death of a woman in 100 Mile House this spring, Dubois said: "We need to stop the flow of exotic animals . . . We're hoping this is something that will be dealt with in the spring legislature."
If it is, the SPCA will likely stop getting letters like one it recently received from someone asking where they could purchase a pet cheetah.
A quick Google search by The Province found a person in Qualicum Beach selling two exotic cat cubs for $4,000. The online advertisement expired in May.
Surrey man may lose hand after bite from cobra

An antivenin developed by his friend? Um...that doesn't sound quite right. Perhaps it's a good thing the doctors refused to administer his "friends" magic cocktail of who-knows-what.

Paperboy Note: Emphasis below is mine. Wes

THE PROVINCE (Vancouver, British Columbia) 12 December 07 Saving snakebit limb still '50-50' - Doctors who refused to use Jason Hansen's antidote say it's now up to his body and antibiotics (Jack Keating)
Jason Hansen is hopeful doctors can save his arm after he was bitten by his pet cobra.
Hansen, who has already undergone hours of surgery, said it was about "50-50 right now" whether his finger would be saved and that he still could lose his right hand and arm after being bitten by the snake at his Surrey home Thursday night.
"I don't want to lose my finger or my hand or any of my body parts," said Hansen from Surrey Memorial Hospital.
"They're saying that it's up to my body now, and the antibiotics that they give me in order to save my finger. I don't have much left for flesh on the middle finger. And the skin is all gone off of it. It's pretty black still.
"Saving my hand and arm is still up in the air, unfortunately, too. They cut me open just to relieve the pressure."
Hansen, 36, who went to hospital shortly after being bitten Thursday night, remained upset that doctors refused to administer an anti-serum that his friend, Dalvin Corrigal, had sent from northern B.C. to the hospital Friday night, about 24 hours after he was bitten.
The anti-serum had to be administered within 72 hours of the bite.
"If they would have given it to me at the time, wouldn't be sitting here with a black finger and no flesh on it and I wouldn't have 69 stitches and a gash. My arm has basically been mutilated.
"I'm pretty upset about this whole thing," said Hansen. "I think [the doctors] kind of let me down a little bit.
"All I asked them to do was administer it," said Hansen. "And they still refused. And now here I am about to lose a finger at this point and possibly worse."
Fraser Health Authority spokesman Stephen Harris said doctors could not administer a drug without knowing what it was.
"Any drug has to be approved and a physician will want to know the source of the drug to make sure it's an approved drug before [he or she] administers it," he said.
Hansen said his painful ordeal is "probably the worst experience I could ever imagine. It's probably like being shot or being burned in a fire."
He said that, if the government allows poisonous creatures into the country and allows people to own them, they should ensure that life-saving anti-serums are stocked or readily available to hospital authorities.
Hansen doesn't blame the cobra for his plight.
"I have nothing against the pet cobra," said Hansen, who has had the snake for five years.
"It's just one of those things. He's a snake and you can't tame a wild beast," said Hansen.
"I'm just very fortunate that I'm alive. I cheated death."
Saving snakebit limb still '50-50'