toxinologist
Active Member
Hi folks,
I've just spent the last couple of days at a meeting of professional zookeepers, medical toxinologists and venom suppliers to discuss some of the issues regarding the keeping of venomous exotic snakes, particularly the current position regarding antivenoms for exotic snakebites and the consequences of exotic snakebites.
There are two very important bits of information to convey to the broader herp community:
1. There are serious issues regarding antivenom availability for the treatment of exotic snakebites - basically zoos and venom suppliers have sufficient to treat 1 or 2 bites from the species in their collections, but when it comes to the private keeping fraternity, nobody has any real idea of how many venomous exotics are in the community, or what species, and this means that we have no idea what antivenoms need to be available in case a private keeper gets tagged.
2. Should a private keeper get tagged, the medical profession are not in the least interested in the legality or otherwise of your snakes. They are concerned with providing you with the most appropriate treatment and the that means the most appropriate antivenoms. Some species have venom that varies considerably depending on where it comes from, and some antivenoms do not work for specimens of the same species that come from different geographical locations. The medical view is that if you come in to a hospital with an exotic bite your confidentiality will be respected and you will not be handed over for prosecution.
My question to everyone and especially to anyone concerned about the risk of exotic snakebite in Australia is:
Does anyone here think that keepers would be willing to anonymously reveal the species you are keeping and whether or not you are breeding them/transferring them to others? - no names, no other details except a species name, the number held and yes or no to the breeding/transfer question.
I know that everyone involved in keeping exotics is concerned about legal issues - this has absolutely nothing to do with that - this question is simply about enabling Doctors to be prepared to treat bites and to have the right antivenoms available.
Exotic snakebites can produce horrific injuries and we do not want anyone to end up dead because they were afraid that if they wnet to hospital they would be arrested and/or their animals seized.
Maybe Slaty can do set up a thread that anonymous users can post their comments on in order to answer this without using user names?
Cheers
David
I've just spent the last couple of days at a meeting of professional zookeepers, medical toxinologists and venom suppliers to discuss some of the issues regarding the keeping of venomous exotic snakes, particularly the current position regarding antivenoms for exotic snakebites and the consequences of exotic snakebites.
There are two very important bits of information to convey to the broader herp community:
1. There are serious issues regarding antivenom availability for the treatment of exotic snakebites - basically zoos and venom suppliers have sufficient to treat 1 or 2 bites from the species in their collections, but when it comes to the private keeping fraternity, nobody has any real idea of how many venomous exotics are in the community, or what species, and this means that we have no idea what antivenoms need to be available in case a private keeper gets tagged.
2. Should a private keeper get tagged, the medical profession are not in the least interested in the legality or otherwise of your snakes. They are concerned with providing you with the most appropriate treatment and the that means the most appropriate antivenoms. Some species have venom that varies considerably depending on where it comes from, and some antivenoms do not work for specimens of the same species that come from different geographical locations. The medical view is that if you come in to a hospital with an exotic bite your confidentiality will be respected and you will not be handed over for prosecution.
My question to everyone and especially to anyone concerned about the risk of exotic snakebite in Australia is:
Does anyone here think that keepers would be willing to anonymously reveal the species you are keeping and whether or not you are breeding them/transferring them to others? - no names, no other details except a species name, the number held and yes or no to the breeding/transfer question.
I know that everyone involved in keeping exotics is concerned about legal issues - this has absolutely nothing to do with that - this question is simply about enabling Doctors to be prepared to treat bites and to have the right antivenoms available.
Exotic snakebites can produce horrific injuries and we do not want anyone to end up dead because they were afraid that if they wnet to hospital they would be arrested and/or their animals seized.
Maybe Slaty can do set up a thread that anonymous users can post their comments on in order to answer this without using user names?
Cheers
David