Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Link to story below. The guy is a volunteer (Albert Killian) down at Everglades Outpost in Homestead. Story is pretty vague, disappointing to hear venom one chief Al Cruz say it can fill a martini glass with venom, a bit of an exaggeration don’t ya think? They are going to give fifty vials of antivenom. Hope he will be all right. Good luck Mr. Killlian.

http://cbs4.com/pets/homestead.snake.bite.2.849161.html

That's a shame; I hope he is able to pull through. I guess that's why they say its not "if" you get bit but "when." He's a great advocate for reptile education. Hopefully we'll be able to hear him telling his own story on "I Got Bit" instead of someone else.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

This is not meant as a flame at all, but I'm wondering if Mr. Killian's lax handling practices had anything at all to do with this. I've seen pictures and videos of him freehandling large kings (among other hots) numerous times, as well as on TV (Animal Cops Miami). Unfortunately, this sort of thing is almost an inevitability when you handle venomous reptiles in that manner.

That said, I don't know what happened, and for all I know, he was doing everything correctly. I mean absolutely NO disrespect to Mr. Killian with this post, as I'm well aware of his contributions to reptile conservation in Florida, and wish him a speedy recovery.
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Abhishek Prasad

Here’s a couple links to YouTube videos featuring the guy that got nailed by the king cobra. Obviously, you will see some complacency in the handling department, but he is no doubt very experienced with kings. He has little ground to defend his technique considering he’s in the process of having his life saved at the moment. It is a great tribute to the Miami Dade venom rescue team and the antivenom bank that the antivenom was readily available to treat this kind of bite. There was a time when it was highly unlikely you would survive a bite from a king cobra, a snake that chews and usually has to be pulled off. I would think dry bites are darn near unheard of. On of these videos you can see LarryF, a poster here. Maybe he can give us an update soon if he is in the know as to how Mr. Killian is doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFp1n8jmpUI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZUK1VE6UvQ

the worst part is that lats night i showed the video to a buddy and he asked me if Albert had ever been tagged by a king? i said no. and now behold the news today. The King in that video is the one that tagged him. i feel sick and as if i jinxed him. wishing him a speedy recovery