Founder of Kissimmee Serpentarium gets hit by King Cobra
Mark Crafts
Thought you all would find this tidbit interesting.
Reprinted w/o permission and probably blatantly violating copyright laws:
Bracketed comments are mine.
From the June 22 Orlando Sentinel:
King Cobra Bites Its Handler at Show
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Henry Curtis
St. Cloud -
A snake-milking exhibition turned tragic Wednesday when a 12-foot King
Cobra bit the founder or Reptile World Serpentarium.
The snake bit George VanHorn, 50, twice in his left forearm as a group of
children watched dumbfounded, not knowing if what they were seeing was
part of the show.
"If they knew what was happening, then it would be terrifying" said
Bonnie Watkins, who has worked with VanHorn since 1972 at the snake lab
on East Highway 192.
VanHorn was listed in very critical condition Wednesday night at the
Orlando Regional Medical Center. There was no antivenin in Central
Florida to treat VanHorn until about 5pm - nearly 6 hours after the
attack [attack? Hmm...] - when supplies were flown to ORMC from Atlanta,
ORMC spokesman Joe Brown said.
The lack of antivenin was ironic, because VanHorn supplied life-saving
doses of the drug [drug?] several times a year to herpetologists, zoo
employees and other victims of deadly snakebites across the Southeast.
Wednesday's attack [Grr....] happened about 11:30am as VanHorn coaxed the
King Cobra out of an enclosure.
"He clamped on Mr. VanHorn thinking he was food" Watkins said. "I was
there, and there was nothing I could do. It happened in about half a
second."
VanHorn was taken by private car to St. Cloud Hospital for initial
treatment. He was there for several hours until he was transferred by
helicopter to ORMC.
The bite was the 10th [!] for VanHorn since he opened his business 23
years ago, Watkins said.
The King Cobra is one of the world's deadlier snakes, because it can
inject massive doses of neurotoxic venom. Without treatment, the venom
can kill by causing the muscles in the chest cavity to constrict and
bring on suffocation.
Visitors to Reptile World Serpentarium can watch the thrice-daily milking
of the snakes for their venom. The facility holds up to 80 varieties of
poisonous snakes, which produce about 2.2 pounds of freeze-dried venom a
year.
The venom is sold for medical research to universities and pharmaceutical
companies. Scientists use venom to learn more about human cell
structure, blood composition, nerve transmission and body chemistry.
The business was VanHorn's childhood dream.
In earlier interviews, he dated his fascination to age 6, when he found
an indigo snake. At age 11, VanHorn said, he was caught breaking into
the Miami Serpentarium where he was trying to steal rattlesnakes for his
home collection.
In a 1990 interview, VanHorn described snakes as being as beautiful as
jewelry and said when they move, they flow like water pushed by wind.
"If I could get into a snake's brain, I'm sure I would find myself in a
very, very different world," he said. "They have no limbs and they're
predators and they have to kill to survive. When you look at how they do
that, it's fascinating."
-------
I suppose it could've been a lot more sensationalistic...
Mark
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Mark Crafts Melbourne FL
mcr...@su5s.ess.harris.com | cra...@iia2.org
"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."
Alan W. Zulich
Mark Crafts <mcr...@su5s.ess.harris.com> wrote:
>
>Thought you all would find this tidbit interesting.
>Reprinted w/o permission and probably blatantly violating copyright laws:
>Bracketed comments are mine.
>
>From the June 22 Orlando Sentinel:
>
>King Cobra Bites Its Handler at Show
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>By Henry Curtis
>
>St. Cloud -
>A snake-milking exhibition turned tragic Wednesday when a 12-foot King
>Cobra bit the founder or Reptile World Serpentarium.
>
>
>
As an update, Van Horn came out of a coma about 1 P.M. Thursday (6-22).
Blood chemistry and kidney function appear to be OK. I understand that
he had more than 25 vials of antivenin. If nothing else, he's gonna
feel the effects of serum sickness for a while.
This information is about 18 hours old. Hopefully, he continued to
improve during that time.
*****
Al Zulich Harford Reptile Breeding Center
P.O. Box 914
SASE or e-mail Bel Air, MD 21014-0914
for '95 list 410/838-1578 Phone/FAX
awzu...@cbdcom.apgea.army.mil
Mark Crafts
> From the June 22 Orlando Sentinel:
>
> King Cobra Bites Its Handler at Show
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, further update.
As of this morning, he had taken 48 vials of antivenin and is becoming
more stable. He has with him half the United States supply of antivenin.
Contrary to the earlier report, he -did- have a multi-injection vial of
King Cobra antivenin on hand and took it with him to the hospital.
Mark
mel turner
>Ok, further update.
>As of this morning, he had taken 48 vials of antivenin and is becoming
>more stable. He has with him half the United States supply of antivenin.
>Contrary to the earlier report, he -did- have a multi-injection vial of
>King Cobra antivenin on hand and took it with him to the hospital.
I'm glad to hear he is doing better. I visited his place a little over a
week or so ago, and thought he had some nice specimens that were well
displayed with good educational labels by each cage. (I missed meeting him
& didn't see his snake-milking show because he wasn't back yet from Costa
Rica).
mdt
Herpbooks
etc.).
One disturbing aspect of this bite was that someone at one of the Zoo's
contacted refused to send antivenin unless they new they would be
reimbursed!!!!!!!!!!!
gre...@herpmed.com
There is no commercially avilable antivenom for cobra bite made in the
US so under FDA rules it must be imported on compassionate use grounds.
Theoretically it is illegal to sell it in the U.S.
I think what the zoo must have had in mind was some assurance that
their stock would be replaced. Reimbursement in money could not legally be an
issue in such a case. Thus even a victim's insurance company could not
properly "pay" for the serum but the victim, his employer or the insurance
company might consider arranging to replace it. Exotic snakebites
always present unusual situations such as this. If there are any
insurance execs out there they might want to offer venomous snake handlers a
new form of medical coverage called "snakebite antivenom insurance."
If they want to discuss this further contact me for additional ideas.
There may be a relatively small market for this kind of coverage but it
is something really needed.
S. Grenard
gre...@herpmed.com
Alan W. Zulich
<gre...@herpmed.com> wrote:
>
>There is no commercially avilable antivenom for cobra bite made in the
>US so under FDA rules it must be imported on compassionate use grounds.
>Theoretically it is illegal to sell it in the U.S.
>
>I think what the zoo must have had in mind was some assurance that
>their stock would be replaced. Reimbursement in money could not legally be an
>issue in such a case. Thus even a victim's insurance company could not
>properly "pay" for the serum but the victim, his employer or the insurance
>company might consider arranging to replace it. Exotic snakebites
>always present unusual situations such as this. If there are any
>insurance execs out there they might want to offer venomous snake handlers a
>new form of medical coverage called "snakebite antivenom insurance."
>
I'd be willing to bet that reimbursement for a number of vials of antivenin
will be the least of George's worries. I believe that this is his
seventh or eighth bite, and it's likely that, after the first or
certainly the second, there isn't a health insurance carrier anywhere
that will pick him up. IMHO he's got to worry about a whopping hospital
bill also.
Maybe a better question to pose would be - is there any insurance carrier
that would insure a high risk occupation like George's (at a reasonable
cost)?
Mark....@mail.tju.edu
awzu...@apgea.army.mil (Alan W. Zulich) writes:
>Maybe a better question to pose would be - is there any insurance carrier
>that would insure a high risk occupation like George's (at a reasonable
>cost)?
FL State Laws (and they might not apply to self-employed employees) but there
could be possibilities there.
Another option that comes to mind... if a collector of raw snake venom sells
the product to a antivenin producer... perhaps part of the payment could be
the finished product.
Regards,
Mark Miller FAX: 215-464-3561
Mark....@mail.tju.edu CIS: 70176, 1153
Herpetology Online Network (SysOp) --> BBS: 215-698-1905