Rudy Komarek, a longtime snake handler who called himself the Cobra King, died early this month in Daytona Beach, Florida. Komarek was born and lived most of his life in New Jersey. He performed mostly with Spectacled cobras, sometimes ten at a time, for carnival audiences and the summer camps of the Catskills, occasionally appearing on national television with his snakes. In the 1980s he became notorious for poaching large quantities of timber rattlesnakes and is frequently cited in scientific publications (albeit with dubious evidence) as a primary reason for that species' decline in the northeastern states. He was convicted three times for snake-related offenses and bitten some 17 times. Komarek moved to Florida in the mid-1990s, working menial jobs and trying to re-establish himself as a snake showman. This November he would have turned 80.
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Rudy Komarek, 1928-2008.
Replies (6)
Rudy certainly had a very interesting life.
I have had the pleasure to talk with him many times, and he would revel me with humorous stories of his escapades!
No one, I mean no one, including Dr. Brown, could find find Timbers like Rudy!
R.I.P. Rudy.
Randal Berry
I agree Randall-he was notorious back in NY, but nobody could match him in the field. He wasn't exactly "conservation oriented"-he was something of an anachronism. But certainly a reminder of a now bygone era.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG
The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....
Please share a story or two if you would.
I don't know Randal, Art Moore was supposedly THEE best hunter when it came to finding timbers in NY. Rudy likely had more comprehensive knowledge of all of the states in the east.
MH
I knew Rudy for 35 plus years. He really seemed to enjoy life no matter what the cards handed him. He was one of the more interesting and colorful characters in the business. He probably forgot more about Timber Rattler behaviours than any researcher ever discovered. Rudy wore a coat of many colors herper, showman, adventurer, but most of all he was my friend. TOM CRUTCHFIELD
Wow, just happened to be browsing and saw that Rudy was dead. I was actually checking to see what crazy crap was posted about him now. I'd known Rudy for over 30 yrs, since I was a small child. I remember the time he was handling cobras in my father's basement and got bitten. Rudy wouldn't go to the hospital. My dad kicked him out of his house and told him he wasn't "gonna die in our basement". That was back in the 80's. Ahhh, the fond memories. LOL!! I think Tommy Crutchfield said it best. He obviously knew Rudy very well and he's right......Rudy was a colorful character. Well, at least the timber rattlesnake isn't going to go extinct now!!! What a joke that whole thing was. Rudy did enjoy some of that publicity though. In some crazy way, I'm really gonna miss him....Rest in peace cobra king.
