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Poisonous Snake Bites Man, Man Releases Snake Into Wild, Then Goes to Hospital

wcreptiles

wcreptiles

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Poisonous Snake Bites Man, Man Releases Snake Into Wild, Then Goes to Hospital
Wednesday, June 03, 2009

A Poolesville man bitten by a poisonous snake returned the snake to the wild before seeking medical attention.

Sam Pettengill found the snake the size of a pencil in his apartment at Kunzang Palyul Choling, a Buddhist temple, on Sunday and was bitten on the finger when he picked it up.

But before going to the hospital, 36-year-old Pettengill, who has been known to buy crickets and worms to set them free, prayed and released the snake in a grassy area.

David Srour of Shady Grove Adventist Hospital notes that most poisonous snake bite victims bring the snake with them — and the snake is usually dead.

A state Natural Resources expert told Pettengill it was almost certainly a copperhead, the only known poisonous snake in Montgomery County. After four rounds of antivenin, Pettengill is expected to return to the temple soon.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,524942,00.html
 
Someone should still have a talk with the guy about releasing crickets- and possibly the worms.

Unless he's buying indigenous crickets, which is pretty unlikely- he may feel he's doing something good for the crickets in question but he's doing something a hell of a lot less-good for everything that was already living where he released them. Pet store crickets aren't the same animals as wild crickets... and they often have a whole host of fun gut fauna to go along with them.

How much of a belief in peace and serenity does it take to justify ignorance that damages the local ecosystem, one small, bag full of crickets worth at a time?
 
How much of a belief in peace and serenity does it take to justify ignorance that damages the local ecosystem
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"the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry"
 
I have met Sam Pettengill at that Buddhist temple, Poolesville is next to Potomac in MD, and he is a very kind person with the best of intentions, so he means no harm by releasing foreign insects into our ecosystem. I can stop by and tell him to stop these seemingly 'good' actions to explain to him the local damage it causes. Blood worms and crickets from Africa most likely swarming with mites and parasites are things I don't want in my back yard where I sometimes take my snakes to sun out.
 
How did he know the snake was poisonous?

Have they tried to eat them before?

lol, making fun of my own mistaking poisonous for venomous.
 
greentreepythons said:
I have met Sam Pettengill at that Buddhist temple, Poolesville is next to Potomac in MD, and he is a very kind person with the best of intentions, so he means no harm by releasing foreign insects into our ecosystem. I can stop by and tell him to stop these seemingly 'good' actions to explain to him the local damage it causes. Blood worms and crickets from Africa most likely swarming with mites and parasites are things I don't want in my back yard where I sometimes take my snakes to sun out.
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Great! give him a big "Namaste'" from Fauna!
 
Venoms are poisons.

A poison is any substance that, through chemical action, has a negative impact on living organisms.

A venom is just a very specific type of poison, being organic in nature and produced by a species that has a specific method of injecting it into other organisms.

All venoms are poisons, not all poisons are venoms. A venomous snake is a poisonous snake because it produces a poison. The more specific term is possibly a better one to use when it applies since it narrows things down more and gives a clearer understanding of what's involved but the broader term isn't actually inaccurate.
 
Seamus Haley said:
Venoms are poisons.

A poison is any substance that, through chemical action, has a negative impact on living organisms.

A venom is just a very specific type of poison, being organic in nature and produced by a species that has a specific method of injecting it into other organisms.

All venoms are poisons, not all poisons are venoms. A venomous snake is a poisonous snake because it produces a poison. The more specific term is possibly a better one to use when it applies since it narrows things down more and gives a clearer understanding of what's involved but the broader term isn't actually inaccurate.
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I must have missed you at the last two VENOM CONFERENCES I attended.

Funny, that's NOT what the experts say.

I prefer to explain it this way.

A poison is a substance that is ingested.

Venom is injected.
 
Tim Cole said:
I must have missed you at the last two VENOM CONFERENCES I attended.

Funny, that's NOT what the experts say.

I prefer to explain it this way.

A poison is a substance that is ingested.

Venom is injected.
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Man, they must have been important VENOM CONFERENCES to warrant the caps lock cruise control.

I'd love to see a direct quote from an "expert" that defies the definitions I posted. Come to think of it, most the real hardcore biologists just don't waste their time dealing with that kind of concept as a discussion unless it's brought up by someone else, they're too busy investigating the method of action and mapping proteins... so I am having serious doubts that it was brought up by anyone, at any point, during a conference lecture.

Within the microscopic focus of herpetology the more specific terms venom and venomous are generally used to distinguish those organisms that have a delivery method involving injection (venomous snakes) from those which do not (amphibians) but a tendency towards a certain use doesn't automatically transfer over into a redefinition of the words in question.

Poisons are ingested, huh? Only ingested? They can never cause damage through surface contact (i.e.- poison ivy, dendrobates) or inhalation (i.e.- chlorine gas)? And venoms, they can never cause any damage of any kind if they aren't injected (here's venom in yer eye!).

Venoms are poisons, plain and simple. They are a substance which damages organic tissues through chemical action. Something which is venomous is poisonous. "Poison" simply has a broader definition which encompasses the definition of a venom.
 
4 rounds of antivenin for a copperhead bite? My mom got bit on the big toe by a copperhead a few years ago and the doctors didn't bother to give any antivenin. I was under the impression that copperheads weren't all that potent to adult humans. Weird.
 
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