Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,

We are preparing to battle a ban on constrictors over 8' in length here in Ohio. I would like to know if anyone has records or knows where I can obtain records giving the number of deaths in the U.S. as a result of Large constrictors. I would certainly appreciate if anyone can help me out or point me in the right direction.

Thank you very much,

Chris
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

Can't help you on your request, but if you have the time you might want to get some figures on fatalities within the state of Ohio from dog attacks, cattle, horses, cars, guns etc If they are worried about the dangers a large constrictor may have and therfore take legal action, then they can't ignore other risks!?
sorry I can't be of any more help, good luck

John
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"Its no help to hide behind the statement that snake bite accidents are a rarity and that the average Dr seldom or never will treat one. For the bitten patient, it is a matter of life or death, and the rarity of the event is of no interest to him."

I don't have any exact figures, but I know a few people in the U.S. & Canada have been killed by "pet" pythons. Invariably, it was at feeding time, & more than one snake was owned by the deceased. Got in a hurry & neglected to wash hands after feeding first snake & opened second snake's door. Following common sense protocols can certainly keep incidents like that from happening. I have always encouraged people who keep big constrictors to have two experienced adults in the room at feeding time. I always wore a large belt knife when working with big constrictors.

The suggestion about deaths from other animals is a good one. I wish you luck.

~~Greg~~

I've heard of a handful of inidents, but I don't know where to look for official data. Ask the other side to provide it. One of two things will happen:

1) They will admit that they have no idea, which makes them look pretty silly.

2) They will dig up real numbers which I assure you will show that in the history of the U.S. fewer people have been killed by constrictors than are killed by lightening in any given year, possibly less than any summer month.

Insist that they cite statistics and give total numbers rather than just rattle off a few specific instances.

This looks interesting, but I'm having trouble locating his sources material:
www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-72798.html

You should start a religion that worships constrictors over 8" long. I am not kidding. When my government, which is supposed to protect everyone's rights, becomes the "hobby police"; this is the time to expose the farce.
Jim

Don't have source information, but I hear of under 20 deaths a year caused by captive snakes across the board(this includes venomous species). There may be more, but it is a small number compared to the number of hobbyists. As far as the dog bite issue goes, yes, it can be a good comparison, but to be of REAL use it would involve a lot of math. Get the estimated number of people who keep snakes, do the same with dogs. Then get the bite info from both and figure the percentage. Without doing this, when you say more people are badly bitten by dogs the other side can say "Sure, that's true, but look how much more popular dogs are than snakes, it's bound to happen".
If you bring up dog info, bring breed into it. Everyone's scared to death of pit bulls and rottweilers, right? I read somewhere that dalmatians bite more people than both(but you never hear about it because those are cute dogs and the media doesn't want to publicize bites from "good" breeds). A friend of mine had the biggest Rott I ever saw, and the only danger you had to worry about with him was that he knocked you down when he wanted attention and maybe scratched you.

Chows are the main bite dogs here. Add up the bites from the number 2 & 3 dog breeds and they do not equal the number of Chow bites. 50% of the Chow bites are also the owners. Thats what you get for keeping an inbred dog bred for food in China! This is fact from research I did for a Animal Control class.
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
Conservation through Education

We have a good amount of bites from them too-bad ones.and I agree with forgetting about pits and Rotts-it's better tio show that the "cute" ones can bite too.

Chris,

You may want to contact the CHS. They successfully fought a full ban in chicago of exotics and have experience in this. Also check the herp law forum. Someone had the same question there.

I do know PIJAC was a huge help in chicago.
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

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