A loss to the Herp Community...James Bear

James Bear was bitten through the bag by a Canebrake Rattlesnake. Due to a previous bite he had an allergic reaction and and probably went into anaphylactic shock. He was without oxygen for about 15 minutes. He is brain dead and on life support which will be disconnected today.

I'll admit, I did not know James well. I sold him a few snakes and we traded e-mails and phone calls. I knew him through his best friend Anthony Fish.

Immediately after the bite, James wife Danielle asked Anthony and I to come and get the snakes. At the same time, New Mexico Fish & Game, US Fish & Wildlife agencies got involved. They had some questions about James and the snake collection. I believe Anthony, Danielle, and I were able to answer them well enough to clear up questions they had along with properly identifying the snakes. Anthony and I explained why we were there and let them know that we are ready to remove them as soon as possible. One less thing for Danielle to deal with. Hopefully we will be contacted today with an ok from NM Game & Fish.

A fund will be set-up shortly for those wishing to make donations to the surviving wife and 3 children.

This is a large collection (200+) consisting of boids, colubrids, neo-tropical rattlesnakes, NA rattlesnakes, European vipers, lanceheads, cages and racks.

Next week I hope to have these animals in Texas and ready to be sold. The money will go to the family.

If someone is interested in these animals ,cages, or to express condolences, feel free to contact myself or Anthony Fish [[email protected]] or (281) 788-5466.

My phone number (512) 83-SNAKE. 512 (837-6253).

Wow...apparently I'm still "Fined and suspended", yet I can still post. Rich, feel free to let me know if you actually want me to pay the fine for this access.

Hi Seamus,

Good to see you around again, it's been a while.

I didn't know James or even know of him prior to this incident, which is essentially local news here since Deming is only an hours drive from me. Based on some of the threads regarding him here on the BOI, some of his dealings and choices be in question.

However, there is an old saying "Don't kick a man while he's down". I'd say that unfortunately, in James' case, he is most definitely down right now. Regardless of what he may have done in the past, certainly it can't be horrible enough to celebrate his death. His family is likely in quite the financial bind right now, not to mention the inconceivable reality of losing him so prematurely. It's probably best to either say a few kind words about him and wish his family the best, or simply say nothing at all.

Take care,

Abhishek

And Tim...I called you and left Mike's number (guy who runs the rescue here). He also has a reptile shop and would be willing to put some of the animals for sale there, all proceeds going to James' family of course. I also gave him your number.

James is no longer with us. Seamus, everyone no matter what there reputation has contributed some good. I have only recently sold some snakes to James so I will not argue about his rep nor is this the time. I am only trying to do what's best for the family and the snakes.

Seamus, WTF is your problem? That has got to be the most uncouth, thing I have ever seen come from those hateful little fingers of yours. They just unplugged the guy a couple hours ago, and you come and disgrace his family before he's even cold. Not cool at all bro. Shoulda just kept that one to yourself.
Regardless of what he has done in the past, I am sure his family had nothing to do with it, and certainly ain't deserving of comments like that so soon after his passing. That's just not right.


Tim, wish you luck man. Hopefully these animals and caging will sell, and get the family a little bit of relief from the bills I am sure will follow soon enough. Send me the proper info, links etc. and I'll help spread the word about getting these animals sold.

Rick

crotalusadamanteus said:

Seamus, WTF is your problem? That has got to be the most uncouth, thing I have ever seen come from those hateful little fingers of yours. They just unplugged the guy a couple hours ago, and you come and disgrace his family before he's even cold. Not cool at all bro. Shoulda just kept that one to yourself.
Regardless of what he has done in the past, I am sure his family had nothing to do with it, and certainly ain't deserving of comments like that so soon after his passing. That's just not right.


Tim, wish you luck man. Hopefully these animals and caging will sell, and get the family a little bit of relief from the bills I am sure will follow soon enough. Send me the proper info, links etc. and I'll help spread the word about getting these animals sold.

Rick

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His wife was right in the thick of it... and frankly the fact he was fatally envenomated isn't exactly surprising considering his terrible attitude towards proper handling and housing- the man was pure unadultered trash and his death doesn't change what he was.

Maybe instead of giving the money from the sale of the collection to the woman who helped him lie, cheat and steal- you should be funneling it back to the people he ripped off.

I am extremely ill right now and should be in bed but I saw this and wanted to reply. Seamus, please, have some respect for the man's family at this time. I don't know the man or anything about him, but I am asking you to please bite your tongue right now. Thanks.

KelliH said:

Seamus, please, have some respect for the man's family at this time. I don't know the man or anything about him, but I am asking you to please bite your tongue right now. Thanks.

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Not gonna happen Kelli. The man was subhuman garbage and should not be glorified simply because he's not around anymore.

It also occurs to me that it may not even be completely accurate- at least twice in the past his standard theiving story was that his house had burned down as an excuse for why he was unable to make good on his debts... when his house has *not burned down* and he was simply making a planned move out of the area. A scumbag who lies about something like that could lie about anything. I'm not certain what the angle would be exactly, unless he's wracked up massive debts again and wants them forgiven while he pushes his animals in some kind of pity sale, but his partner in crime scumbag wife can't be trusted either.

He had never done a damn thing to redeem himself or to pay back the people he stole from and there's no way in hell I'll let anyone publically promote him as a good person or his death as some tragic loss without rebuttal. A criminal jackass died from what sounds like a direct result of his criminal jackassery; I have no sympathy whatsoever.

I fail to see one word of glorification in this thread. Even the title only says "a loss" to the herp community. Nobody is glorifying him, his wrong doings, or his obvious inability to handle venomous reptiles in a competent manner.

He's paid a price, the ultimate price actually. Now his family is paying a price as well, whether you feel it's a high enough price or not. And I assure you, the man is indeed dead. It's not some ploy to heist peoples money.

Have a little class at the minimum and let them grieve before attacking them. You do have a little class in there somewhere, don't you? I know I've seen it once or twice at least.

Whats the point in attacking a dead guy and his family anyway? the snakes are being sold, and more than likely thatll be the last you ever hear of them. If its that important, start a BOI thread and continue there, but really... whats the point?

I used to be rather close to James and his wife and children. I found out yesterday and have been reeling ever since. Regardless of his practices, which were at times, questionable, I knew them on a different level. We hung out, had dinner at each others houses, his children, very sweet and as for Dee, very young and she was simply doing what made her husband happy. I'm sorry Seamus, you know how I am and if someone is wrong, I'll say it, but Dee wasn't a willing anything in this, she wasn't knowledgeable, that was James' job to do. I am trying like heck to find her right now as the numbers I previously had, are no longer in service or just keep ringing.( I lost contact with them for the most part when they moved to NM) I am saddened for them all and express my deepest sympathies on the matter. ~Jen.

James Bear

My Brothers Final Bite

As with the first two bites, my brother understood the dangers involved dealing with his passion. On January 24th I received a text message from my wife asking me to call her ASAP. I was teaching in Albuquerque at the time and received a second text informing me that my brother had been bit by a snake. I called my brothers wife and she said my brother had died but was brought back through shocking his heart. I felt in my gut that this was not good. I called my wife and she was on her way to the hospital to be by my brother’s side. He was being flown by helicopter from Deming, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas. I immediately left my work driving the 4hr trip to try and get to my brother. My sister was in Phoenix when she was notified and she was on her way as well. When I reached the hospital and met up with my wife and sister, I saw my brother in ICU hooked on different machines.

My brother was swollen from the bite but not as bad as he was on the first bites and that was sort of a relief. My brother was on a ventilator to assist him with his breathing. He was initiating only 4 to 5 breaths on his own. While standing by my brother’s side, I held his hand and rubbed his forehead telling him to pull through this. I knew deep in my heart that as the doctor cautioned my brother on his last bite, he would probably not make it through this bite.

As the minutes and hours went by we began to have hope that he may battle through this, because he would move his thumb and his respiration would increase as we talked to him. Our hope was yet again shattered when the next morning the Doctor came in to assess my brothers condition in dong so she opened one of my brothers eye to check for a response and the only response was he began to posture. This is when the extremities of your body quickly withdraw inward in a curling motion. The Doctor informed us that she did not get any response from his eyes and that was not good. As the minutes and hours continued to pass us by my brother was still unresponsive to our voices and touch. Through the many tubes and IV’s my brother was in our eyes still with us.

A day came when the Doctors informed us that the state in which we now see our brother was the best he would get. The doctors gave him less than 1% chance of doing anything. My brother would never speak, open his eyes, laugh, talk, or move in anyway. The doctor said that due to him going into anaphylactic shock his brain was deprived of oxygen for a period of time. Technically the only part of my brother that was working on his own was the brain stem. My brother kidneys were failing, the liver was shutting down, and his breathing was not adequate on his own. The family was faced with a decision to leave my brother in his present state or to remove him from the life support.

The doctors said that he could be kept alive as long as he was on a ventilator. But what is life if he could not and would never see his own children, touch a guitar, hear the joys of the Holidays, taste a cold coke, smell the fresh air in the mountains. My brother had conveyed his wishes before he was silenced, that do not leave him as he was, let me go. The day came when we had to release the angel that was trapped. When all the artificial life support was removed, the rise and fall of his chest was no more. I held his hand and felt the strong pounding of his heart. As the heart rate decreased I squeezed his hand harder. Within minutes my brother had become my angel.


The Nurses and Doctors took care of my brother knowing that the end result was he would pass. Words can not express the extreme thoughtfulness and compassion from the nursing staff in the ICU. This was a feeling that touched our heart in more ways than we could ever express. The ICU staff made the situation easier, not to say that death can ever be easy, but from the comfort of the ICU staff we know they cared for my brother as well.

My brother was a very active person, his smile would light up a room and his humor could be felt for days. My brother had gone through many hard times in his short 37 years. We almost lost him twice when he was a child due to asthma. My brother lost everything he owned in a house fire. My brother lived life like he wanted. I admired his talents of painting, playing the guitar, his writing of songs and his way with words. I don’t think he ever knew how much my sister and I really looked up to him, our baby brother.

I'm very sorry for your loss. It's hard to say goodbye so suddenly like that. My thoughts are with your and the rest of his family.

Is there a post by Seamus that has been deleted?

crotalusadamanteus said:

Seamus, WTF is your problem? That has got to be the most uncouth, thing I have ever seen come from those hateful little fingers of yours. They just unplugged the guy a couple hours ago, and you come and disgrace his family before he's even cold. Not cool at all bro. Shoulda just kept that one to yourself.
Regardless of what he has done in the past, I am sure his family had nothing to do with it, and certainly ain't deserving of comments like that so soon after his passing. That's just not right.


Tim, wish you luck man. Hopefully these animals and caging will sell, and get the family a little bit of relief from the bills I am sure will follow soon enough. Send me the proper info, links etc. and I'll help spread the word about getting these animals sold.

Rick

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Yes..

Yeah, I reckon so. Just as well anyhow.

Sorry for your loss Joey. Words just don't seem like enough. I lost my Brother when I was 13, due to a poison of a different sort, so I do know how it feels.


Rick

about james d bear

I used to own a pet store in El Paso TX, called"Animal Safari" from 1995 to 1998.I did many deals with james and mostly got the short end of the stick from him.i would not say he was that bad of a guy, he just did what he wanted to do. i was not only ripped off by him but also by one of his friends at the time. we are not talking about a few hundred dollars. i was shocked to hear of his departure, i am sure this is the same person that people on the net are bad mouthing. i am not here to talk bad, just to say, be careful, you never know whwn something is going to come back to you. the reptile trade is full of so many bad people and i knew james, he was not a bad man, mabey he was just trying to be like the rest of them.........

Seamus Haley said:

Not gonna happen Kelli. The man was subhuman garbage and should not be glorified simply because he's not around anymore.

It also occurs to me that it may not even be completely accurate- at least twice in the past his standard theiving story was that his house had burned down as an excuse for why he was unable to make good on his debts... when his house has *not burned down* and he was simply making a planned move out of the area. A scumbag who lies about something like that could lie about anything. I'm not certain what the angle would be exactly, unless he's wracked up massive debts again and wants them forgiven while he pushes his animals in some kind of pity sale, but his partner in crime scumbag wife can't be trusted either.

He had never done a damn thing to redeem himself or to pay back the people he stole from and there's no way in hell I'll let anyone publically promote him as a good person or his death as some tragic loss without rebuttal. A criminal jackass died from what sounds like a direct result of his criminal jackassery; I have no sympathy whatsoever.

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I'm sure his death was a loss to his grieving family: his wife, his children who have not yet grown up and need money from this sale for their necessities, his brother who wrote such a beautiful post here.
There is a time and place for everything. This place is for the sale of some of his snakes so that the family has money to sustain themselves. I am sorry for their loss.