Nick Bishop likes to go by his nickname, the Wrangler. He’s an aspiring TV wildlife host.
The videos of his escapades capturing venomous snakes could bring two thoughts to cross your mind.
You wonder if he has a death wish and you may not want him as a neighbor if he keeps the snakes he loves at home.
Bishop has kept a venomous snake in his Hallandale Beach condo.
“There was a pink rattlesnake, blue eyes, white background,” he said. “It was gorgeous.”
After getting a tip, Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission inspected his home and confiscated the rattlesnake. He now faces a misdemeanor charge for having the illegal snake without having a license for it.
“I totally understand,” Bishop said. “I mean if I lived next door, I wouldn’t want a rattlesnake living in my neighbor’s apartment.”
Local
To reduce the risk of venomous snakes in neighborhoods, Florida’s FWC recently changed the rules to make it tougher to keep a venomous reptile.
The new rule changes include requirements for enclosures holding venomous reptiles. The changes impact the container the reptile is held in as well as the room that holds that container. There are also new regulations on handling reptiles outside the enclosures.
There are more than 1100 license holders in Florida listed between 2014 and 2016. The new rules add steps for people seeking to be licensed to have a venomous reptile.
Florida’s Poison Control Centers keeps track of snake bites reported in Florida. Over 900 people have reported snake bites in the last three years. That’s almost a bite per day. Two people died in 2014 from snake bites. 70 percent of those who report bites are men.
|
Snake Species |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin |
69 |
70 |
67 |
|
Coral Snake |
51 |
41 |
37 |
|
Copperhead |
10 |
17 |
10 |
|
Pygmy Rattlesnake |
97 |
111 |
107 |
|
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake |
7 |
7 |
8 |
|
Canebrake/Timber Rattlesnake |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
Unknown Rattlesnake |
32 |
31 |
25 |
|
Unknown Viper |
53 |
38 |
45 |
|
Total Snakebite Calls in Florida |
321 |
317 |
300 |
When a snake gets loose or bites someone, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lieutenant Scott Mullin is likely to get the call.
Mullin’s Venom One unit is the only government-run, 24-hour, seven day a week antivenin operation in the United States.
He knows the excruciating symptoms that a snake bite victim suffers.
“They say it’s like that part of their body being put over a hot grill with someone taking a railroad spike and a hammer and just hitting it with every heartbeat,” Mullin described about a rattlesnake bite.
Coral Snakes kill with a neurotoxin.
“Once you can’t expand your lungs you can’t breathe and when you can’t breathe you got about six minutes before you die,” Mullin said.
Sometimes he says the victims are bitten while keeping snakes illegally.
“In one case it was a cobra bite and the gentleman didn’t want to volunteer to help us because he didn’t want to face prosecution,” Mullin said.
Police had to get a warrant to enter his house in order to identify the species and use the correct antivenin to help save him.
A more regular call for Mullin is to recover the popular Burmese Python.
“It’s illegal to have one of these as a pet,” he said
Back at Nick the Wrangler’s house, he says only legal reptiles and mammals are there now including two snakes, a turtle, a monitor lizard, a monkey and a dog.
“Yeah I keep it simple,” Bishop said. “I don’t tangle with FWC anymore.”
