Snake handler is bitten
By Ashley Gerwig
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, April 24, 2004
A Butler County man who raises and exhibits exotic snakes was bitten by one of his own Friday morning, sending emergency officials racing to find an antidote.
A Monocle cobra bit Brad McCarthy, 44, of Mushrush Road, Penn Township, on the hand about 8 a.m., neighbors and officials said. He was rushed in an ambulance to UPMC Presbyterian hospital, Oakland. Hospital officials last night declined to comment on McCarthy's condition.
Getting McCarthy an anti-venom and transporting him to the hospital proved an adventure -- all with the clock ticking and the snake's deadly venom at work in his veins.
Because of poor weather conditions, LifeFlight helicopters at the Butler County Airport were grounded yesterday, forcing emergency responders to send him in an ambulance, authorities said.
Authorities contacted the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium about obtaining an anti-venom, but the zoo doesn't keep a Monocle cobra and didn't have the anti-venom on hand.
Pittsburgh Zoo officials called the Columbus Zoo. Officials there had the medicine flown to UPMC Presbyterian, authorities said.
Monocle cobras inject a neurotoxin into their victims, said Henry Kacprzyk, curator of reptiles and Kid's Kingdom at the Pittsburgh Zoo. The toxin causes light-headedness, falling blood pressure, respiratory distress and ultimately death, he said.
Kacprzyk said the zoo receives about three calls a year from hospital officials looking for anti-venoms for poisonous snake bites. The last call -- also for a Monocle cobra bite -- came about a month ago, he said.
The snake can be up to 6 feet long. Its name comes from markings that resemble an eyepiece.
Kacprzyk said many snake owners are unaware that local hospitals likely don't have the needed anti-venom on hand. Anti-venoms, made from horse antibodies, can cause a deadly reaction in certain people, he said.
"Some people assume the local hospital will have what they need," he said. "That can be a deadly mistake."
Kacprzyk said zoo workers, who handle the poisonous snakes with a long hook, do not recommend people keep them as house pets.
"Poisonous snakes and people are a bad mix," he said.
Pennsylvania has no laws prohibiting residents from owning exotic pets, Supervisor Douglas A. Roth said.
McCarthy displays his snakes at various shows, including the Big Butler Fair and the Butler Farm Show, neighbors said.
Roth said McCarthy for years has raised the snakes in a basement in his home in his rural neighborhood with no problems.
"He's been doing this for a good while," Roth said. "He knows what he's doing."
Neighbor Bobbie Taylor said she's taken her daughter to see McCarthy's snakes. She described McCarthy as a kind man well-liked by neighbors.
"I've always liked him," she said. "But I always told him, 'You got to get rid of those snakes. They're going to get you.' "
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