ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE (Fayetteville) 30 May 04 Airlines have strict guidelines on shipping venomous snakes (C.S. Murphy)
When Little Rock police said last week that four venomous snakes shipped to Garrick Wales from Florida were passengers on Delta Air Lines, some people reacted with horror.
Knowing that deadly reptiles may be slithering in boxes below airplane passenger compartments made some skin crawl.
Randal Berry, the Little Rock Zoo reptile keeper, said he’s arranged for similar shipments to the Little Rock airport as he’s added reptiles to the zoo’s collection. Delta, he said, is the only airline that has holding facilities in Little Rock for such animals.
Venomous reptiles must be packed in separate cloth drawstring bags and then, if possi- ble, packed into plastic containers so they can be viewed without touching, according to the International Air Transport Association. If plastic containers can’t be used, the snakes should be double-bagged, said Jerome Torck, a spokesman with the association’s live animal division based in Montreal, Canada.
The association also requires venomous snakes be placed in a wooden box with a lid that is screwed or nailed on and then covered with a metal mesh to prevent escape when the box is opened, Torck said. The box must be marked with "live venomous reptiles" warnings.
John Kennedy, a spokesman for Delta’s Atlanta corporate headquarters, said the airline abides by the International Air Transport Association’s guidelines. "They have, I understand, specific standards and regulations for each species," Kennedy said. "We’re just an airline, like lots and lots of airlines, that accept shipments of this nature from known shippers."
Delta officials have declined to confirm whether Wales or the snakes traveled into Little Rock on Delta. Releasing information about passengers and cargo is against the airline’s privacy policy.
Delta’s Web site says the airline will ship most types of animals and reptiles but that "live snakes or venomous reptile shipments will only be accepted from approved shippers."
Delta won’t ship primates like lemurs and monkeys.
Reptiles, amphibians and fish are accepted only as air cargo, not as carry-on or checked baggage, according to the Web site.
Reptiles other than snakes, such as chameleons, frogs and iguanas, must be placed in containers made of wood, plastic or corrugated material.
Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter said the city’s ordinance banning the possession of venomous reptiles does not apply to cargo coming into the city’s airport. "We don’t have the authority to regulate commerce," he said. "If they’re going to drive it over to the Heights and keep it in a container, we could regulate that. We can deal with where they plan to leave them once they’re delivered."
Mayor Jim Dailey said he’d like to create a process so that the city is at least notified when shipments of dangerous animals have arrived at the airport. "We recognize that there might be occasions when creatures that might be dangerous are coming into the city as part of cargo," he said. "Maybe it would be a state law or a city ordinance, but we should have some kind of notification."
Airlines have strict guidelines on shipping venomous snakes