Bass-Mamba Update Press: Snake handler on the mend
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Posted by Wes von Papineäu on May 24, 2001 at 10:17:57:
SUN-SENTINEL (Ft Lauderdale, Florida) 24 May 01 Snake handler on the mend: `Next time he might not be lucky' (Vicky Agnew)
Davie· Even in a world of concrete and condos, Mother Nature never lets you forget who's boss.
Just ask Art Bass, an experienced reptile handler who was bitten on the hand Tuesday by one of the world's top five deadliest snakes--a Jameson's mamba. In short, Bass went mano a mamba, and the mamba won.
Bass, 66, who was in fair condition Wednesday at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, declined an interview. But his boss, Michael Van Nostrand, owner of Strictly Reptiles at 6450 Stirling Road in Davie, said Bass was doing well.
"All Art said was that it was his fault," he said. "Next time he might not be so lucky."
Strictly Reptiles, a reptile import/export business, is not a retail business and has been in Davie for 11 years. Van Nostrand learned the business from his father, and both men have known Bass for many years. He is like family, Van Nostrand said.
Van Nostrand said he dislikes handling venomous snakes and relies on Bass to do much of the dangerous work.
Doctors gave bass 14 vials of antivenin flown to the hospital from the Florida Antivenin Bank Inc., operated by Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue. Nine of the vials were out of date, but doctors used them anyway, Dr. Jeffrey Draesel said.
Treating Bass temporarily depleted the bank's antivenin supply, and Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue Capt. Al Cruz had to search the state for more.
"We still have enough for one more bite," Cruz said. "We flew it in last night from Orlando. ... But I have 40-50 more vials coming any day."
Bass' bite was the fifth this year that the antivenin bank has dealt with, Cruz said. The antivenin comes from South Africa and each vial has a shelf life of three to five years, he said.
Van Nostrand said his venomous snake trading is done with collectors and other distributors around the world, as well as institutions for medical research. Van Nostrand said he only sells venomous snakes to people who have experience handling them.
"Nationwide it's a big business," Cruz said. "But most of the high-dollar items with snakes are nonvenomous."
Cruz said collectors spend more money on snakes with unusual coloring or patterns rather than on venomous ones. He said he keeps a database of institutions and private hobbyists around the state that keep venomous snakes.
Most of the interest among the medical community in venomous snakes is using venom for pain medications and cancer research.
"Snake venom is the most complex of all poisons known to man. There are so many different enzymes, proteins and heavy metals that compose snake venom," Cruz said. "A large percent of them are still unstudied."
To own a venomous snake in Florida, an individual must have a license. That requires a person to be at least 18 years old, with no criminal history and at least 1,000 hours of experience handling venomous snakes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that Strictly Reptiles' license is current.
It was business as usual Wednesday at Strictly Reptiles. Customers called with orders and employees bustled around the warehouse-size facility caring for the approximately 30,000 reptiles, amphibians and arachnids.
No one, however, was handling venomous snakes alone as Bass had done the previous day.
Bass had already helped bag two coral snakes and three cobras for shipment Tuesday and was supposed to have help bagging the mamba, but he decided not to wait.
He had the seven-foot snake about half way into a cloth bag when the snake raced up the handling hook and bit him on his right hand. Even then, Bass, who has some 60 years experience working with reptiles, kept his cool. The snake had retreated into the bag and Bass managed to close it, Van Nostrand said.
"Once the snake's out of the cage, he's got to handle it," Van Nostrand said. "You can't open the cage because then they all want to come out, and he can't drop it on the ground."
Van Nostrand said Bass told him he tried to bag the snake alone because other mambas he'd bagged recently had been docile.
Bass is ornery and has his own way of doing things, but he's tremendously experienced with venomous snakes and normally doesn't take chances, he said.
"Art's been bit before, but this one left him a little nervous," he said. "Last year, he was bit a by a western diamondback."
The rattlesnake delivers a dry bite, and Bass chose not to go to the hospital. He suffered no serious symptoms, he added.
In an interview with the Sun-Sentinel in 1997, Bass said he had been bitten by snakes 16 times. He was pragmatic about his dangerous encounters.
"That's what you get for messin' with them," he said at the time.
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