Poisonous snakes confiscated

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency announced Thursday that authorities confiscated 100 snakes ‘ most of them not native to Tennessee, some of them deadly and some found in houses with children.

‘Let’s just put it this way ‘ you don’t want to go for a walk and bump into these snakes,’ said Don King, chief of information for TWRA.

Confiscated snakes included sand vipers, Chinese cobras, transpecos rattlesnakes, Gaboon vipers, western diamondback rattlesnakes, copperheads, eastern rattlesnakes and monocled cobras ‘ whose venom is one of the strongest known to man.

Those arrested as part of ‘Operation Striking Distance’ were charged with violations, including illegal possession and transportation of Class 1 wildlife, but TWRA did not release their names. Such charges are usually misdemeanors in Tennessee, but could be upgraded to felonies.

Wildlife officials said there is no evidence that any of the poisonous snakes escaped. The investigation is continuing.

‘Unlike our native species that will usually slither away from you unless you back them into a corner, these non-native species are aggressive,’ King said. ‘Some of them will actually chase you down to bite you.’

Tennessee wildlife laws prohibit the sale, importation and ownership of such venomous snakes. Most hospitals carry the appropriate antivenin for treating bites from native snakes, but there are few medical facilities in the country that are well-equipped to treat bites from exotic species.

Without fast treatment, bites from the poisonous species can be debilitating or fatal.