Cable worker bitten by venomous snake outside Hollywood home - FL

... Firefighters suspect it could be an exotic species, ...

Edit: Identified as Green Mamba; see second post.

This could be a few more nails in the coffin if it turns out to be true. The last thing that's needed is venomous exotics crawling around with the burms. Lights out for herp keepers for sure.

Cable worker bitten by venomous snake outside Hollywood home

HOLLYWOOD -- A green snake in a tree bit a cable worker this morning, sending him to the hospital with a swollen arm, authorities said.

The Comcast employee was working outside a home on the 2300 block of Taylor Street about 9:30 a.m. when the snake struck, Hollywood Fire Rescue Division Chief Mark Steele said.

A Venom Response Unit from Miami-Dade is trying to figure out the snake's species before using antivenin, Steele said. The victim said the reptile was green on top and yellow on the bottom but couldn't recognize it in magazine photos shown to him.

Firefighters suspect it could be an exotic species, Steele said. They are checking to see if anyone in the neighborhood has a permit to keep an exotic reptile in their home.

The cable worker is being monitored at Memorial Regional Hospital while firefighters try to identify the snake.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/brea...y/1194729.html

Poisonous African snake bites man in Hollywood, officials say
BY ALEXIA CAMPBELL
Sun Sentinel

The search is on for a venomous snake that bit a cable worker Thursday morning in Hollywood, officials said.
The worker, whose name was not released, was outside a small apartment building in the 2300 block of Taylor Street when he leaned against a small coconut tree and was bitten on the arm by a green mamba snake, which is native to Africa.

POSITIVE ID

``There's not a shadow of a doubt that it was a green mamba,'' said Capt. Ernie Jillson, who heads the Venom Response Unit in Miami-Dade County.

At first, officials were not sure what kind of snake had bitten the man, who was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital and monitored for bite symptoms.

He was shown pictures of various snakes and picked out the green mamba, said Hollywood Fire Rescue Division Chief Mark Steele.

When the victim experienced numbness, tingling and drooping eyelids, among other symptoms of the neurotoxic venom, officials administered the antivenin, which reversed the effects, Jillson said.

Officials think the snake was illegally purchased over the Internet and either escaped or was released, Jillson said. For anyone other than a trained, licensed professional to even handle the snake is against the law, and no one in Florida has a license to own a green mamba.

The apartment building's owner, Richard Konefal, said he led one animal-control officer on a search of all nine units in the building, turning up no evidence that anyone there had been raising the snake.

No children live in the building.

Jillson said it was highly improbable that more than one snake was on the loose; breeding the reptiles in captivity is difficult.

VERY AGGRESSIVE

In captivity, green mambas live 10 to 12 years. In the wild, their life span is about six years, Jillson said. Based on the description -- a three- to four-foot green snake with a yellowish underbelly -- Jillson estimated the snake that bit the cable worker to be about 3 or 4 years old.

He said green mambas are aggressive and territorial, and this one was likely to stay in the lush backyard garden where it bit the man.

Jillson said anyone who sees the snake should not approach it, but should call the Venom Response Unit at 786-331-4443 or 786-331-4444.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2009 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/brow...y/1195663.html

By AMY SHERMAN
asherman@MiamiHerald.com

A 44-year-old Comcast worker bitten by a snake Thursday was expected to be released from Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood Sunday.

``It looks like he is going to make a full recovery,'' said Capt. Ernie Jillson, officer in charge of the Miami Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Team, who spoke with the victim Saturday morning. ``His spirits were up.''

The worker, whose name has not been released due to medical privacy reasons, was bitten on the arm in the 2300 block of Taylor Street. He experienced numbness from his upper right extremities up into his neck and face, Jillson said.

``He is through the worst of it,'' he said. ``He is going to be out of work at least next week.''

As of Saturday afternoon, the snake was still at large. Jillson's unit plans to set traps in hopes of capturing it.

The venom response unit responds to about 1,500 calls a year worldwide.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/brow...y/1198048.html

Call me crazy and paranoid but i'm beginning to wonder if people from hsus or some other wack jobs with an agenda is staging alot of this b.s. to bury us more. Seems in the last few months more escapes, bites, and "attacks" are turning up and making headlines.