Expert: 911 might have saved dead Putnam snake owner
A reptile expert speculated that a Putnam Lake woman who died after possibly being bitten by one of dozens of venomous snakes she kept at her home may have been reluctant to call 911 if she owned the snakes illegally.
"People do survive bites when they react appropriately. But more often than not, we find that with people who don't respond properly, the main reason is because they're probably keeping the snakes in violation of the law," said Terry Phillip of Reptile Gardens, a wild animal park in Rapid City, S.D.
Aleta "Danni" Stacey, 56, of 21 Hopewell Drive was found dead at home Tuesday by her live-in boyfriend, Vito Caputo, 46, when he returned from work about 7 p.m.
Their small, 948-square-foot, two-bedroom house was full of snakes, 75 in all, including a poisonous African black mamba that may have taken Stacey's life.
Police found a suspected snakebite on her forearm, and Caputo told them the black mamba's pen was unlocked when he got home, meaning Stacey might have been handling the snake before she died.
Bruce Lowder of Putnam Valley, who runs Animal Encounters, a company that educates people about reptiles, said that roughly half the time when a venomous snake bites a human, it does not excrete venom because it saves that for prey. He wondered if Stacey, if bitten, didn't call for medical help because she thought no venom was released.
Venomous snakes can be kept as pets with a permit, said Wendy Rosenbach, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, but it was unclear Thursday whether the couple had such paperwork. As of Thursday, no legal action had been taken by her agency regarding the snakes.
Of the 75 found in the house, 56 snakes were poisonous , said the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, which called in experts from the Bronx Zoo to remove the snakes Wednesday.
Lowder said special permits for venomous animals are typically issued for zoos and certain animal educators.
"Six to seven percent of all U.S. households have reptiles as pets, but it makes sense to have appropriate reptiles as pets, not venomous ones," he said.
Whether venom, which stops the heart and paralyzes breathing, killed Stacey might not be known for days or weeks, when toxicology reports come back on her tissue samples, police said. An autopsy was done Wednesday night at Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel.
"In any death under circumstances like this, we will do a full and thorough investigation," said sheriff's Capt. William McNamara. "A central part of the investigation is to receive an official cause of death, which depends on laboratory analysis. Preliminarily, no foul play is suspected."
No one was home Thursday and Caputo could not be reached for comment.
The snakes were "well-fed and well taken care of," said Rosenbach, and she described Caputo as "very cooperative" when authorities took them away, including several cobras.
Caputo uses a photo of a cobra head as his Facebook photo and lists one of his interests there as "Venom-Center.com — Your Complete Venomous Reptile Community." The website offers such resources for members as species listings, photo galleries and caging.
"Venomous snakes fascinate many and, by learning the facts, one can develop an appreciation for them as well," it states. "Members here are varied in their interests. We keep venomous reptiles for a number of reasons, some for their beauty, some for research."
A black mamba can be bought for $300 to $400 plus shipping, said Phillip, the South Dakota snake expert. But if one bites a person, the anti-venom needed to save the person's life is far more expensive and harder to get. It's only made in southern Africa, takes some seven months to arrive in the U.S. and costs roughly $100 a vial, he said.
Ten to 20 vials are needed to treat someone who's been bitten and it must be administered in a hospital due to a common but dangerous reaction to it.
"If (Stacey) called 911 and told them the type of snake, dispatchers could have called the Bronx Zoo for an anti-venom and she would be taken to a hospital, where they could stabilize her breathing before administering the anti-venom," he said. Someone bitten by a black mamba could start to feel the effects within minutes, he added.
"The black mamba snake has a potent venom that is a fast-acting neurotoxin," Phillip said. "The immediate symptoms are tingling in the lips and tongue and a metallic taste in the mouth. The eyelids become droopy in the first stage of paralysis."
The black mamba is actually olive and brown outside. The name comes from its black mouth. It can grow up to 9 feet long and is described by National Geographic as "fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive."
www.lohud.com/article/20110617/NEWS04/106170348/Expert-911-might-saved-dead-Putnam-snake-owner?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews
