Need info on deaths from exotic versus domestic animals
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Posted by SnakeFreak on March 16, 2003 at 15:07:16:
I need info for a school paper comparing diseases caught from reptiles and other "exotics" versus "domestics" such as cats, dogs and rodents, especially hamsters and gerbils. I would prefer actual statistics from well known and reliable sources, as I've found some stuff on salmonella, but the total number of cases each year in the US varies considerably. The estimate that seems the most accurate is 40,000 total cases, but I've also found estimates of 93,000 total cases and 40,000 cases caused just by reptiles. I also need info on deaths in the US caused by attacks from "exotics" such as snakes, large monitors, large cats such as tigers, and wolves and wolf hybrids versus those caused by "domestics" such as dogs, other companion animals, and horses. I was also wondering how long "exotics", such as cornsnakes and other commonly kept reptiles, have been kept and bred in captivity compared to commonly kept small animals, such as hamsters, guinea pigs and gerbils. I think hamsters and gerbils began to be kept in captivity around 1950/1960. Lastly I was wondering whether there have been any incidences where large snakes have escaped the property on which they were kept and killed or seriously injured anyone. On a similar note, have there been any fatal snake attacks where the victim did not provoke the snake or do something stupid, such as handling a prey item then handling the snake or feeding the snake in a room and staying in the room to watch ? I heard about a guy in New York that was killed by his 13 foot burm. He took the snake across the street,bought a live chicken, carried it and the burm back across the street, and let the burm and the chicken loose in a room and stayed to watch. The snake apparently mistook him for the chicken and killed him.
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