devenomized

I"m sure Dr. Sabatini has consulted a lawyer about this issue. If you have any further questions, please ask him in person, call him, or send an email. I'm not his lawyer.

You need to do some reading about liability release forms so you stop repeating yourself.

I'll give you a good answer:

Let's assume I'm an experienced DVM. This is what I would do,

A) I will state clearly on my website that the animals are surgically altered and render non-venomous by a full adenectomy and a full ductectomy. Since we know it is fact and not fiction that if I remove the glands completely, the snakes cannot inject venom in their entire lifespan

B) I will show baby venomoids if allowed by a reptile show sponsor and only show them to an adult. I probably wouldn't take out aggressive snakes since I don't want to bleed all over the table. I won't allow people to handle them because some shows don't allow that and i don't the snakes they have not purchased to bite people.

C) I will provide a liability release form stating that the buyer is responsible to have the animal checked yearly by a vet, that my business recommends you treat the animal like a venomous snake, and that the animal should only eat prekilled or F/T. I will provide a 14 day guarantee that the animal will eat and if it dies, a full replacement will be given to the buyer.

D) I will microchip every snake

Umm sounds like what's already done by Dr. Sabatini doesn't it?

I'll tell you one reason. This world if full of crazy people and before I fall asleep doing a full adenectomy, i know that something crazier is most likely to happen before I fall asleep at the wheel. The risk is greater that we have an idiot out there who would purchase one of my snakes and take the microchip out. Then this idiot will put the microchip in the same type of venomous snake. A few years later, this idiot will take photographs, make a video, etc etc and then post them all over the internet and youtube. Then this idiot will file a lawsuit against me because the venomoid he purchased that has a microchip in it clearly injects venom and can kill rodents, cats, and even killed a cow. The idiot has everything well documented and plenty of proof showing the snake injecting venom, spitting venom, vomiting venom, venom is everywhere, it's like a hose. At that point, I would scan the snake and bang! it matches a snake i surgically altered 4 years before. At that point, I would be done! I would be on CNN, the local newspaper, and maybe loose my license.

However, if i have a liability release form stating step C, then mostly likely the buyer will have a lot of legal troubles because it was clear that he was told to take the snake to yearly visits, handle the snake like a hot snake, etc etc... This is an extreme example and likely never to happen, but I would bet there is a greater chance for that to happen than for me to have a few drinks, watch a movie, and at the same time perform a full adenectomy with my eyes closed.

Another example will be someone gets bitten by their Gaboon viper and the bite gets infected and they have an allergic reaction. The local hospital will treat the incident as a venomous snake and legally it will seem the buyer was bitten by a venomous snake. Even though no venom was injected, the buyer ended up at a hospital and claims some venom was injected and the reason no antivenom was required was because the amount was extremly small due to reparative regrowth. One things leads to another and i'm on CNN again. By now, i'm more famous than joe the plumber and joe only owes $450 in taxes while i'll have two lawsuits up my butt so huge that I wouldn't no what to do.

Why? All because I wanted to provide a document that stays your snake will never inject venom. So, I started thinking about all these remote possibilities and I figured it will be best to have a legal liability release form that I give every buyer to protect myself. I know I'll have many people that will claim I do this for one reason or another, but the fact is, I'm the only licensed DVM in the US who provides this alternative to any interested person where legal while there might be other people selling so called "Venomoids" and they don't have to face the same scrutiny that some people put me through. So, I ask myself, is it worth it to debate the issue when I already know people buy my products? is it worth to talk to the wall when the wall is not going to talk back? For Dr. Sabatini is not, but I don't have a problem debating the issue. I think debating the issue brings out more attention and if one more person decides than i'm totally off and wrong, then that's a win for you, but if someone who never knew about venomoids makes an accountable decision based on the information provided here and in other places, then that's a win for me.

I see debating at a win-win situation. so keep them coming




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