Clay Davenport
09-11-2006, 12:48 AM
When Terry Vandeventer heard the news about the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, his first thought was, " 'He died again.' "
Irwin, the Australian conservationist and TV star known for handling, riding or swimming with dangerous beasts of every stripe, was killed Monday by a stingray.
But Vandeventer believed at first that it was just another Internet rumor or urban legend, "because he dies all the time.
"I've died a few times myself," says Vandeventer of Terry, a herpetologist and educator known as the "Snake Man."
For people who work with exotic animals, such as zookeepers, it's one of the perceived hazards of the job. Encounters with lions, tigers, bears, snakes and even stingrays can be risky, experts say, but serious injuries are usually caused by human error.
And, Vandeventer says, Irwin often increased his risks.
"I hate to be negative, but when I realized the news was true, I thought, 'It was bound to happen.' "
Vandeventer, who tries to take no risks during his snake demonstrations for school groups and others, was bitten by a diamondback rattlesnake in 1981, when he headed the reptile department at the Jackson Zoo. "I got too close. I messed up," says Vandeventer, who was hospitalized for 25 days.
In any case, the hazards Irwin faced "were very different from what our zookeepers have to encounter," says Chris Mims, spokesman for the Jackson Zoo.
"We have protective measures where we don't come in direct contact with most of our animals.
"With tigers, for instance, we have levers and gates that maneuver without the keeper ever coming in contact with the animal."
Although Mims knows of no fatal attack at the Jackson Zoo, there have been accidents involving keepers and visitors there and at Hattiesburg's Zoo at Kamper Park.
In 2001, an employee of the Hattiesburg zoo lost a portion of her leg from the knee down after a tiger pulled her by the foot into his cage while she was cleaning it.
In 1998, a Sumatran tiger attacked a Jackson Zoo employee who suffered puncture wounds on her back and neck.
In Irwin's case, though, the attack is being called a freak accident.
Stingrays are normally placid, but will attack with their poisonous barbs when they feel threatened, says Karen Dierolf, aquarium biologist at the Natural Science Museum in Jackson.
"At the museum, we have four Atlantic stingrays, which get up to 2 1/2 feet across; the species that stung Steve Irwin is much larger.
"We did have a volunteer who was stung by a stingray once. It turned quickly and the spine scraped her. The venom from the barb really hurt her for about 25 minutes.
"Even though the stingrays are used to my being in the tank with them, I'm careful about where I put my legs or knees so that I don't pin one. That's what happens to most people: They step on one, the stingrays flash their tails, which stick their barbs in you; the barb is surrounded by that venom sac."
Even though a stingray took his life, Irwin was known mainly for encounters with crocodiles and snakes. But in zoos, at least, primates and elephants are more likely to cause injuries to keepers, says Vandeventer, who worked at the Jackson Zoo for 5 1/2 years.
"I even remember that a fellow almost lost an eye when a crane pecked at him.
"But when people find out I was bitten by a rattlesnake, they say, 'And you still mess with snakes?'
"So I ask them if they've ever had a car accident. Most of them have. So I say, 'And you still drive?'
"Driving is far more dangerous than a job dealing with venomous snakes."
Link (http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/FEAT05/609070347/1023)
Irwin, the Australian conservationist and TV star known for handling, riding or swimming with dangerous beasts of every stripe, was killed Monday by a stingray.
But Vandeventer believed at first that it was just another Internet rumor or urban legend, "because he dies all the time.
"I've died a few times myself," says Vandeventer of Terry, a herpetologist and educator known as the "Snake Man."
For people who work with exotic animals, such as zookeepers, it's one of the perceived hazards of the job. Encounters with lions, tigers, bears, snakes and even stingrays can be risky, experts say, but serious injuries are usually caused by human error.
And, Vandeventer says, Irwin often increased his risks.
"I hate to be negative, but when I realized the news was true, I thought, 'It was bound to happen.' "
Vandeventer, who tries to take no risks during his snake demonstrations for school groups and others, was bitten by a diamondback rattlesnake in 1981, when he headed the reptile department at the Jackson Zoo. "I got too close. I messed up," says Vandeventer, who was hospitalized for 25 days.
In any case, the hazards Irwin faced "were very different from what our zookeepers have to encounter," says Chris Mims, spokesman for the Jackson Zoo.
"We have protective measures where we don't come in direct contact with most of our animals.
"With tigers, for instance, we have levers and gates that maneuver without the keeper ever coming in contact with the animal."
Although Mims knows of no fatal attack at the Jackson Zoo, there have been accidents involving keepers and visitors there and at Hattiesburg's Zoo at Kamper Park.
In 2001, an employee of the Hattiesburg zoo lost a portion of her leg from the knee down after a tiger pulled her by the foot into his cage while she was cleaning it.
In 1998, a Sumatran tiger attacked a Jackson Zoo employee who suffered puncture wounds on her back and neck.
In Irwin's case, though, the attack is being called a freak accident.
Stingrays are normally placid, but will attack with their poisonous barbs when they feel threatened, says Karen Dierolf, aquarium biologist at the Natural Science Museum in Jackson.
"At the museum, we have four Atlantic stingrays, which get up to 2 1/2 feet across; the species that stung Steve Irwin is much larger.
"We did have a volunteer who was stung by a stingray once. It turned quickly and the spine scraped her. The venom from the barb really hurt her for about 25 minutes.
"Even though the stingrays are used to my being in the tank with them, I'm careful about where I put my legs or knees so that I don't pin one. That's what happens to most people: They step on one, the stingrays flash their tails, which stick their barbs in you; the barb is surrounded by that venom sac."
Even though a stingray took his life, Irwin was known mainly for encounters with crocodiles and snakes. But in zoos, at least, primates and elephants are more likely to cause injuries to keepers, says Vandeventer, who worked at the Jackson Zoo for 5 1/2 years.
"I even remember that a fellow almost lost an eye when a crane pecked at him.
"But when people find out I was bitten by a rattlesnake, they say, 'And you still mess with snakes?'
"So I ask them if they've ever had a car accident. Most of them have. So I say, 'And you still drive?'
"Driving is far more dangerous than a job dealing with venomous snakes."
Link (http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/FEAT05/609070347/1023)