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  1. #46
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    ‘It’s moving and it’s huge!’: An 18-foot-long snake on a roof horrified a Detroit neighborhood


    Juliet, the 18-foot-long reticulated python, found her way onto the garage roof on Thursday. (Latonda Harvey/Facebook)

    By Timothy Bella April 19

    If she’d wanted to, Juliet could have probably eaten the dog that was barking at her on Thursday. But the 8-year-old is a friend, not a fighter. Instead, she climbed up onto the garage roof for safety.

    But when dozens of neighbors started to gather in front of the home, snapping photos and live-streaming from their cellphones, they all had the same question: What exactly was an 18-foot-long snake doing on a roof in the middle of Detroit?

    “Oh my God!” exclaimed Latonda Harvey, a neighbor who live-streamed the scene Thursday on Facebook. “It’s moving and it’s huge!”

    The scare-turned-spectacle had residents and police in awe of the reticulated python, a nonvenomous species native to South and Southeast Asia that is the longest snake in the world.

    “She’s about 18 feet long, 18-plus feet, so I can understand people worried about seeing a big snake sitting on top of a garage like that,” Devin Jones-White, her 25-year-old owner, later told WXYZ.

    While it’s unclear how the docile Juliet found her way up to the shingles atop the home in Detroit’s East Seven Mile neighborhood, Jones-White had a theory. As first reported by WXYZ, Jones-White said he did not lock up her cage properly. And he suspected Juliet slithered out toward the front of the home on Thursday afternoon, where one of his dogs probably barked at her. Startled, Juliet made her way to safety — and a part of the home she where hadn’t been before.

    “That’s what snakes do in the wild. They try to get somewhere safe,” he said. “[If] they don’t want to eat it, they’re trying to get away from it.”

    Soon, word got around that a giant snake was on a neighbor’s roof, drawing a curious crowd who had to see it to believe it.

    “Everyone kept coming here, driving by, taking pictures, getting out of their cars and video recording,” neighbor Kashires McReynolds said to FOX 2.

    Once police arrived, one neighbor wondered aloud what authorities could do to address the unorthodox situation.

    “What the flashlight gonna do?” Harvey asked during her live-stream, laughing. “Oh, that’s his walkie-talkie. He’s like, ‘Hell no!’”

    But Juliet’s newfound attention got to the python, Jones-White said. She probably wanted to get as far out of reach as she could in that moment. The anxiety only worsened with the growing neighborhood commotion, he guessed.

    “When everybody came out and crowded around her, she was spooked even more with the crowd,” Jones-White told FOX 2. “That’s why she never came down and stayed up there, doing her own thing.”

    Once Jones-White was alerted, he said he was scared for Juliet. He asked a friend on the scene to make sure police didn’t do anything to the snake. When he arrived, he made his way to the roof to retrieve his 18-foot-long pet. Adults, children and cops alike gawked at the prospect of a human coming so close to a creature of cartoonish length.

    “Is he really about to go up there?” Harvey wondered.

    He did. Slowly but surely, Jones-White began the clunky process of carrying Juliet down the side of the roof. One onlooker could be heard yelling excited obscenities as the rescue unfolded. As he led Juliet down, Jones-White tripped and nearly fell off the roof, perhaps the most drama-filled moment of a situation involving an 18-foot-long snake in residential Detroit. Foot by foot, Jones-White patiently waited as Juliet wrapped around his torso until the 8-year-old made it safely to the ground.

    Embedded video

    Brian Abel

    @BrianAbelTV
    Made a new friend today. This is Juliet and she created quite the scare in a Detroit neighborhood. 😳

    233
    5:04 PM - Apr 18, 2019
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    Brian Abel

    @BrianAbelTV
    · Apr 18, 2019
    Replying to @BrianAbelTV
    He said the dog part to make the point that she is friendly. Has a diet of thawed out rabbits.
    Here is Juliet's owner Devin Jones-White:

    Embedded video

    Brian Abel

    @BrianAbelTV
    The python that escaped in #Detroit and climbed on a roof is now safe and sound.
    See this gal's primetime debut at 11 on @wxyzdetroit pic.twitter.com/9vluYIRu3E

    30
    7:29 PM - Apr 18, 2019
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    Jones-White said he took in Juliet about five years ago from an older couple who had raised her for her first three years. For food, she eats thawed-out rabbits, he said. Since Juliet is nonvenomous, Jones-White told Fox 2 he has a special permit to own the python.

    “She’s been around people her entire life,” Jones-White said to WXYZ. “She was born in captivity, raised in captivity. She doesn’t really know anything about the wild.”

    So why would someone have an 18-foot-long snake native to Asia in a Detroit home? Jones-White is hoping to start a small zoo in the city, something that doesn’t exist in Detroit’s city limits, WXYZ reported. The Detroit Zoo, which hosts more than 1.5 million visitors annually, is actually located in Royal Oak, Mich., about three miles north of the Motor City.

    No one was in danger Thursday, which is par for the course for the species. As The Washington Post’s Amy B Wang and Avi Selk have reported in recent years, the chance of a reticulated python attacking a human is, to put it lightly, rare. Emily Taylor, a professor of biological sciences at California Polytechnic State University, once wrote that the odds of a human getting eaten by a snake like the reticulated python are “lower than the chances of being struck by lightning at the exact same time as winning Mega Millions.”

    Even with that you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me scenario, there have been at least two recent instances in which people were eaten by a reticulated python. In 2017, a 25-year-old Indonesian man who was missing was gruesomely discovered when villagers cut open a 23-foot-long reticulated python to find the man’s legs, Wang reported. Last year, another Indonesian villager, a 54-year-old woman, was devoured by another 23-foot-long reticulated python so bloated that it could barely move, Selk wrote.

    Despite Juliet’s impressive length, she does not come close to being the longest python of her kind. That honor goes to Medusa, who, at 25 feet, 2 inches, is the longest snake ever recorded in captivity, according to Guinness World Records. In 2011, the 350-pound reticulated python needed 15 men to hold her to be measured at full length. Based out of Kansas City, Mo., Medusa shares Juliet’s taste for rabbits but also devours hogs and deer, according to her owner, Full Moon Productions.

    Inevitably, the excitement near East Seven Mile gave way to exhaustion. And the only one to blame was Juliet, the reticulated python on the roof.


    “I’m gonna need a drink after this one,” Harvey said.

    Correction: A previous version of this article said the Detroit Zoo is about 13 miles northwest of Detroit. It is approximately three miles north of the city.
    That's a big snake...
    Gene Ching
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  2. #47
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    Florida trappers capture record-setting python in Everglades
    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSBIG
    CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE, Fla. — Oct 6, 2019, 12:15 PM ET


    In this Sept. 22, 2019 photo from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida trappers Jonathan Lopez, left, and Cynthia Downer pose with a record-setting python they captured at the Big Cypress National Preserve, west of Miami, Fla. A statement by the Fish and Wildlife Commission says it was the largest snake captured by the new Python Action Team and the largest ever captured at the Big Cypress National Preserve. The agency says it is the second-largest python ever caught in the wild in Florida. (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
    Officials say Florida trappers have captured a record-setting python as part of a growing effort that encourages hunters to remove the invasive snakes from the Everglades.

    The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the 18-foot, 4-inch-long (5.58 meters) female python weighed 98 pounds and 10 ounces (45 kilograms). A statement by the Fish and Wildlife Commission says it was the largest snake captured by the new Python Action Team and the largest ever captured at the Big Cypress National Preserve, west of Miami.

    The agency says it is the second-largest python ever caught in the wild in Florida. The commission says hunting female Burmese pythons is critical because they add between 30 and 60 hatchlings each time they breed.
    That's a lotta snake.
    Gene Ching
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  3. #48
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    Choked out

    Woman found dead with a python wrapped around her neck in a home with 140 snakes
    By Allen Kim and Rebekah Riess, CNN
    Updated 10:19 AM ET, Fri November 1, 2019

    (CNN)A woman was found dead with an 8-foot python snake wrapped around her neck, according to Indiana State Police.
    The snake was a reticulated python, which is native to southeast Asia and is considered to be the longest snake in the world.
    The Benton County dispatch in Oxford, Indiana, received a 911 call Wednesday night after Laura Hurst, 36, was found unresponsive.


    Laura Hurst was found dead with a reticulated python wrapped around her neck.
    Medics arrived and attempted life-saving measures on her but were unsuccessful.

    Police say there were 140 snakes at the property, and that approximately 20 of the snakes belong to Hurst. According to police, Hurst frequented the property "about twice a week."
    The home is owned by Benton County Sheriff Donald Munson, according to property records. Munson did not return a CNN call for comment Thursday afternoon.
    Munson told the Lafayette Journal & Courier that Hurst's death was a "tragic accident" and that he was "being fully cooperative with everybody."
    Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley told CNN that no one lives in the home and that it had been renovated and set up specifically for the collection of snakes.
    He said that Hurst was "apparently there checking on her snakes. For whatever reason, she apparently got the snake out and she was doing what people do with snakes."
    Riley said that the snake may have caused Hurst's death and that an autopsy will be performed on Friday to provide an official cause of death.

    CNN's Tanika Gray contributed to this story.
    What a horrible way to go. And on Halloween no less.

    Wonder what became of the snake...
    Gene Ching
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  4. #49
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    xmas in oz

    Woman finds 10-foot python in her Christmas tree
    By Amy Woodyatt, CNN
    Updated 6:05 AM ET, Fri December 13, 2019


    Leanne Chapman was alerted to the python's presence by birds "kicking off on the balcony."

    (CNN)There are many ways to decorate a Christmas tree -- from monotone minimalism to old-school kitsch.
    But for one woman in Australia, the seasonal theme was very big snakes, when she got home to find a 10-foot python adorning her tree.
    Leanne Chapman and her partner returned to their home in Brisbane, Queensland on Thursday, and noticed a commotion on their balcony.
    "We came home from work and there's a couple of butcher birds that visit every day and they were just kicking off on the balcony, going crazy," Chapman told CNN affiliate 7News.


    The snake eventually slithered away.

    Chapman, who is originally from England, told 7News that her partner started to video the birds, and leaning on the tree -- not realizing what lay wrapped around it.
    "As he's turned around and stepped back, he didn't realise he was leaning on the Christmas tree with the snake wrapped around it," she told 7News.
    The couple left the snake alone, and later that night, it slithered away.
    "It wasn't bothered by us. It just stayed there for a good few hours as we watched it through the window," Chapman said.
    It was only when the reptile moved from its position that the couple realized how big it was.
    "It was big -- really big," Chapman said.
    "After the initial shock wore off, it was a really beautiful snake," she said.
    "It was actually quite nice to see it that close up because I've never seen anything like it before," she added.
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  5. #50
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    whole lotta nope

    We had a tarantula invasion this year in our area. My cousin, who lives in SF's sunset district, found one in his house. He told me about that last Wednesday.

    I'll take tarantulas over pythons.

    ENVIRONMENT JANUARY 17, 2020 / 4:23 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
    'It was going for my throat': Florida python hunters wrestle invasive snakes
    Zachary ***enson
    4 MIN READ

    OCHOPEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Thomas Aycock’s life flashed before his eyes one night in the Everglades as a 13-foot Burmese python squeezed his arm and a leg in its coils. Aycock, who was trying to bag the snake by himself, still recalls feeling its tail across his back.


    Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission staff bag an invasive Burmese python in the Everglades Wildlife Management Area, Florida June 23, 2019. FWC/Alicia Wellman/Handout via REUTERS

    “I knew what it was doing, it was going for my throat,” said the 54-year-old Florida Army National Guard major who was able to wrestle free during that incident in the summer of 2018. “I said to myself, ‘It can’t go down like this.’”

    That scare has not stopped him from returning again and again to the sprawling wetland, devoting almost every spare moment to searching the thick brush and sawgrass for more snakes, as he was doing during this interview.

    The state encourages hunters to capture or kill the giant, invasive south Asian snakes that are decimating local wildlife. Dozens of hunters are prowling the Everglades during Florida’s 10-day Python Bowl, which ends Monday. Armed with long metal hooks that resemble fireplace pokers and bags, many hunters catch the snakes and take them in live.

    Those who take the most longest and heaviest pythons each will win $2,000 in cash. Other prizes include off-road vehicles.

    Aycock and his fellow hunters are spending days and nights slowly creeping across the webs of levees that span the Everglades by foot, bicycle and souped-up SUV looking for the glint of an eye or the shine of brown and black scales.

    First found in the Everglades around the year 2000, the snakes were introduced by pet owners and possibly a snake research facility that was destroyed when Hurricane Andrew struck the region in 1992.

    The behemoths, some of which measure more than 18 feet (5.5 m) long and weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kg), have wreaked havoc on the fragile ecosystem. A 2012 study in Everglades National Park by the United States Geological Survey found 99% fewer raccoons, 98% fewer opossums and 87% fewer bobcats. Massive snakes have even been found trying to eat alligators.

    “I saw an opossum last night out on the levee and it was the first small animal I’ve seen in probably five or six months,” Aycock said.

    Agencies including the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission have all launched python removal programs in recent years, offering hunters hourly wages and bonuses depending on the size and weight.

    According to a 2019 report, contracted python hunters brought in about 1,900 snakes since the program launched in March 2017.

    The success has been hard fought. Despite their size and numbers, which some estimate in the hundreds of thousands, Aycock said it can take eight hours on average to find a snake.

    From the start of the program to mid-2018, the most current data available, hunters working for both agencies spent 14,000 hours in the field yielding 1,186 snakes. Some larger females have been found holding up to 100 eggs.

    “We’re targeting removal in bird rookeries, in sensitive ecological areas, so regardless of the snakes’ population we know every one removed makes a difference,” said Kristen Sommers, the state’s wildlife impact management section leader.

    Yet on Wednesday night, finding even one proved impossible for Aycock. The cooler weather meant the cold-blooded serpents stayed hidden and out of sight.

    “Every python removed out of this ecosystem serves a purpose in restoring this ecosystem,” Aycock said. “We have a good time out here, but it’s also a mission we take seriously and are willing to work at.”

    Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio
    Gene Ching
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  6. #51
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    Snakes and Coronovirus

    I liked the Bat theory better (although there is a connection)

    Snakes could be the source of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak
    By Haitao Guo, Guangxiang "George" Luo and Shou-Jiang Gao, The Conversation
    Updated 6:32 AM ET, Thu January 23, 2020

    (CNN)Snakes -- the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra -- may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.
    The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia.
    The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.
    Using samples of the virus isolated from patients, scientists in China have determined the genetic code of the virus and used microscopes to photograph it. The pathogen responsible for this pandemic is a new coronavirus. It's in the same family of viruses as the well-known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which have killed hundreds of people in the past 17 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV.
    We are virologists and journal editors and are closely following this outbreak because there are many questions that need to be answered to curb the spread of this public health threat.
    What is a coronavirus?
    The name of coronavirus comes from its shape, which resembles a crown or solar corona when imaged using an electron microscope.
    The electron microscopic image, reveals the crown shape structural details for which the coronavirus was named. This image is of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
    Coronavirus is transmitted through the air and primarily infects the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tract of mammals and birds. Though most of the members of the coronavirus family only cause mild flu-like symptoms during infection, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV can infect both upper and lower airways and cause severe respiratory illness and other complications in humans.
    This new 2019-nCoV causes similar symptoms to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. People infected with these coronaviruses suffer a severe inflammatory response.
    Unfortunately, there is no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment available for coronavirus infection. A better understanding of the life cycle of 2019-nCoV, including the source of the virus, how it is transmitted and how it replicates are needed to both prevent and treat the disease.

    Zoonotic transmission
    Both SARS and MERS are classified as zoonotic viral diseases, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals. This was possible because while in the animal host, the virus had acquired a series of genetic mutations that allowed it to infect and multiply inside humans.
    Now these viruses can be transmitted from person to person. Field studies have revealed that the original source of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV is the bat, and that the masked palm civets (a mammal native to Asia and Africa) and camels, respectively, served as intermediate hosts between bats and humans.
    In the case of this 2019 coronavirus outbreak, reports state that most of the first group of patients hospitalized were workers or customers at a local seafood wholesale market which also sold processed meats and live consumable animals including poultry, donkeys, sheep, pigs, camels, foxes, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs and reptiles. However, since no one has ever reported finding a coronavirus infecting aquatic animals, it is plausible that the coronavirus may have originated from other animals sold in that market.
    The hypothesis that the 2019-nCoV jumped from an animal at the market is strongly supported by a new publication in the Journal of Medical Virology. The scientists conducted an analysis and compared the genetic sequences of 2019-nCoV and all other known coronaviruses.
    The study of the genetic code of 2019-nCoV reveals that the new virus is most closely related to two bat SARS-like coronavirus samples from China, initially suggesting that, like SARS and MERS, the bat might also be the origin of 2019-nCoV. The authors further found that the viral RNA coding sequence of 2019-nCoV spike protein, which forms the "crown" of the virus particle that recognizes the receptor on a host cell, indicates that the bat virus might have mutated before infecting people.
    How influenza jumped from animals to humans
    But when the researchers performed a more detailed bioinformatics analysis of the sequence of 2019-nCoV, it suggests that this coronavirus might come from snakes.
    The Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where the coronavirus outbreak is believed to have started, is now closed.

    From bats to snakes
    The researchers used an analysis of the protein codes favored by the new coronavirus and compared it to the protein codes from coronaviruses found in different animal hosts, like birds, snakes, marmots, hedgehogs, manis, bats and humans. Surprisingly, they found that the protein codes in the 2019-nCoV are most similar to those used in snakes.
    Snakes often hunt for bats in wild. Reports indicate that snakes were sold in the local seafood market in Wuhan, raising the possibility that the 2019-nCoV might have jumped from the host species -- bats -- to snakes and then to humans at the beginning of this coronavirus outbreak. However, how the virus could adapt to both the cold-blooded and warm-blooded hosts remains a mystery.
    The authors of the report and other researchers must verify the origin of the virus through laboratory experiments. Searching for the 2019-nCoV sequence in snakes would be the first thing to do. However, since the outbreak, the seafood market has been disinfected and shut down, which makes it challenging to trace the new virus' source animal.
    3 reasons the US is not ready for a pandemic
    Sampling viral RNA from animals sold at the market and from wild snakes and bats is needed to confirm the origin of the virus. Nonetheless, the reported findings will also provide insights for developing prevention and treatment protocols.
    The 2019-nCoV outbreak is another reminder that people should limit the consumption of wild animals to prevent zoonotic infections.
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    Gene Ching
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  7. #52
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    Revenge of the baby snake

    Drunk Man Dies After Biting Venomous Baby Snake in Apparent Revenge Attack
    Jack Beresford 6 days ago
    A man in India has died after chewing on a baby snake in an apparent revenge attack on the reptile.


    © Evgenyi_Eg/Getty Stock image of a small snake - a man in India died after biting a venomous baby snake.
    According to the Times of India, Rama Mahto, 65, captured and bit a baby viper in retaliation for an earlier attack outside his home in the village of Madhodeh in the Nalanda district of Bihar.

    Mahto, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time, was sitting out the front of his house on Sunday when the baby snake reportedly bit him on the leg.

    He eventually managed to capture the viper and, in a surprising twist, decided to enact his own unique form of vengeance on the animal, reported India TV.

    In a statement issued to police and reported by the news outlet, Mahto's family said he was "bitten more than 10 times" on the face while chewing the snake.

    He eventually discarded the reptile in a nearby tree.

    Despite his family urging him to go to the hospital and seek treatment, "he refused and went to sleep" believing the snake's bite carried no venom due to its age.

    Mahto went to bed and was found dead on Monday morning. The official cause of death has not yet been recorded.

    Untreated venomous snakebites are a serious problem in several regions of the world.

    The U.K. Centre for Snakebite Research & Interventions (CSRI) estimates that snakebites kill 81,000 to 138,000 people annually.

    A further 400,000 victims are also left with permanent physical disabilities and disfigurements as a result of venomous animal bites of this kind.

    "It is the rural impoverished African and Asian communities, and particularly the most economically important and educationally vulnerable 10-30 year olds, that suffer disproportionately high rates of snakebite mortality and morbidity," the CSRI states.

    Another recent story from the U.K, has further highlighted the dangers of leaving a snake bite untreated.

    An 11-year-old schoolgirl ended up being hospitalized after she was bitten by a venomous adder while out walking with her family.

    Grace Roys' father did not initially believe she had been bitten by a snake, given how rare attacks of this kind are in the U.K.

    However, he soon realized something was amiss when she began to suffer with stomach pains and vomiting while her foot eventually turned black and blue.

    She went on to spend several days in the hospital, during which time her leg swelled to three times its normal size. Worse still, doctors discovered some of the adder's venom had reached her kidneys.

    Newsweek has reached out for the Centre for Snakebite Research & Interventions for comment.
    According to some reports, this drunk dude bit the baby snake in revenge. When you walk the road of revenge, dig two graves.
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  8. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    We had a tarantula invasion this year in our area. My cousin, who lives in SF's sunset district, found one in his house. He told me about that last Wednesday.

    I'll take tarantulas over pythons.
    My friend got his first ball python 2weeks ago. It's not that long but I guess he can sustain its needs.

  9. #54
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    Cobra

    Indian man gets life sentence for killing wife with cobra
    By Joshua Rhett Miller
    October 15, 2021 9:54am Updated

    An Indian court has found a man guilty of murdering his wife with a cobra


    A man in India convicted of murdering his wife with a cobra has been sentenced to life in prison.

    Sooraj Kumar, 28, was handed the sentence Wednesday for killing his wife, Uthra, 25, in May 2020 in what prosecutors dubbed the “rarest of rare” cases, Agence France-Press reported.

    Prosecutors said Kumar, a bank employee, was unhappy in his marriage and feared that divorcing Uthra would force him to return a large dowry, including a new car and roughly $20,000 in cash.

    Kumar, who was convicted of murder Monday after pleading not guilty, first decided last March to set loose a highly venomous Russell’s viper in Uthra’s bedroom, where she was bitten by the snake and spent nearly two months in a hospital, authorities said.

    As she recovered afterward at her parents’ house, prosecutors said Kumar carried out his twisted plot using a cobra that he obtained from a snake handler and tossed it at his sleeping wife, prosecutors said.

    Kumar even stayed in the room after his wife was bitten and continued about his morning routine when alerted by Uthra’s mother the following day, prosecutors said.

    “The mode of execution and the diabolic plan of the accused to murder Uthra, his wife who was bedridden, makes it [the case] fall into the category of rarest of rare,” a prosecutor who sought the death penalty said.


    Sooraj Kumar was unhappy in his marriage and feared that divorcing his wife would force him to return a large dowry, so he set a snake loose in her bedroom.
    Getty Images/iStockphoto
    Uthra’s parents became suspicious of their son-in-law after he tried to take control of her property after she died, Agence France-Press reported.

    Kumar was sentenced after being found guilty of murder in the state of Kerala, NBC News reported. Prosecutors accused him of marrying his wife for financial gain and conspiring to kill her upon becoming dissatisfied in their marriage.

    “If he divorces her, he will have to part with all her wealth,” assistant superintendent of Kerala police Hariram Shankar told NBC News. “If he kills her through an explicit murder weapon, the wealth would also have to be returned. So he wanted to get rid of her through something that would resemble an accident.”

    But the woman’s death was clearly a “well-planned murder,” Shankar said.

    The snake handler, identified only as Suresh, was also arrested for supplying the snakes to Kumar, the Indian Express reported.

    Fatal snakebites in India are not uncommon, according to NBC News, citing World Health Organization data showing 1.2 million such deaths from 2000 through 2019.

    The country’s Supreme Court, meanwhile, has suggested murder by snake may be part of a growing trend in India, where another man, Krishna Kumar, was one of three defendants accused of murdering a woman from Rajasthan in June 2019 by leaving a poisonous snake in a bag near her bed.

    India’s Supreme Court denied bail to Kumar on Oct. 6 in the slaying of Subodh Devi, NBC News reported.

    Devi was killed after she found out her daughter-in-law, Alpana, was having an affair, court documents show. When confronted by Devi, Alpana and her partner allegedly went to a snake charmer with Kumar and bought a poisonous snake that bit Devi, killing her.
    cold blooded murderer
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  10. #55
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    A year? No way...

    Chinese man bitten by venomous snake he thought was dead inside a wine bottle he bought for his son
    Bryan Ke
    2 days ago

    Representational purpose only. Image: Jacek Karczmarczyk/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

    A Chinese father from Heilongjiang Province, China, was reportedly rushed to the hospital after a venomous snake, which he thought to be dead inside a jar of snake wine, bit him.

    The father claimed to have bought three jars of snake wine a year ago to cure his son, who has been suffering from a chronic illness.

    He purportedly let the snakes marinate for a year before deciding to administer the traditional Chinese medicine to his son.

    All of the snakes were reportedly still alive, and after one of them attacked him, he was treated immediately and managed to survive the incident.

    A Chinese father had the shock of his life when a supposedly dead snake inside a jar of snake wine he bought a year ago suddenly bit him.

    The man from Heilongjiang Province, China, reportedly bought three jars of snake wine, believing that the drink could help cure his son, who has been suffering from a chronic illness. Instead of opening the jars, the father purportedly left them untouched for a year so that they could have “enough medicinal properties.”

    After the year-long marination, the man claims he decided to finally open the jars and administer the traditional Chinese medicine, only to find that all three of the venomous snakes “came back to life” before one of them bit him.

    After being rushed to the hospital, he was treated immediately and reportedly survived the incident.

    Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners believe that snake wine contains several health benefits and can even be a cure for rheumatism, arthritis and the flu. The drink is often prepared by fitting a snake inside a jar of alcohol, usually rice wine, and leaving it there to marinate for months.

    Some experts said that what happened to the father was not entirely strange since snakes can supposedly live inside a jar of alcohol for 12 months without dying, especially if the lid is left slightly open for air to enter.

    However, herpetologist Wolfgang Wüster argued that what happened was “biologically impossible.”

    “No snake can survive submerged in any kind of liquid in a bottle for more than an hour or so as a maximum,” Wüster told Newsweek. “Snakes have no magical powers, they are made of flesh and bone like any other animal, and require food, water and oxygen to survive.”

    Some snake species are able to enter a state of brumation, which is similar to hibernation for reptiles, when certain conditions are met, such as very low temperatures. During brumation, they require less oxygen and their metabolism slows.
    threads
    snakes
    Cobra-Wine
    Gene Ching
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  11. #56
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    died of snake envenomation

    Maryland man with 124 snakes in his home died of a snake bite, officials say
    Marina Pitofsky
    USA TODAY

    A man found dead with 124 snakes in his home died of a snake bite, officials confirmed this week.

    David Riston, 49, died of snake envenomation, the Maryland Department of Health confirmed to USA TODAY. Officials also confirmed his death was accidental.

    Riston died in January in Pomfret, Maryland. Some of the snakes in his home included rattlesnakes, cobras, black mambas and a 14-foot-long Burmese python, according to multiple reports. The snakes included venomous and nonvenomous varieties.

    Officials entered Riston’s home on Jan. 19 after they received a call from a concerned neighbor, the Charles County Sheriff's Office confirmed at the time. Riston was pronounced dead at the scene.

    Some of the snakes were illegal, and experts in exotic animals removed the creatures after Riston’s death, NBC News reported.

    Riston had a valid captive reptile and amphibian permit in Maryland, according to the state’s department of natural resources.

    But venomous snakes cannot be kept as pets under the permit, 7News confirmed.
    live by the snake
    die by the snake
    Gene Ching
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  12. #57
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    wait...what?

    Just gonna leave this here...

    2 male dolphins were seen playing with an anaconda while sexually aroused in a perplexing encounter captured by researchers
    Kelsey Vlamis May 4, 2022, 6:52 PM


    A case of playful interaction between Bolivian River Dolphins with a Beni Anaconda. M Entiauspe Neto, Omar; Reichle, Steffen; Rios, Alejandro dos (2022). Figshare. Media. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19236462.v1
    Researchers in Bolivia captured a rare encounter between Bolivian river dolphins and Beni anacondas.
    At one point, two adult male dolphins held onto the snake and swam in unison while sexually aroused.
    The researchers said the dolphins were more than likely playing, though many questions remained.

    Two Bolivian river dolphins were seen swimming around and playing in the Tijamuchi River in Bolivia. The unusual part? They were carrying a Beni anaconda, an apex predator, in their mouths.

    Researchers captured the rare encounter in August 2021 in photos and described it in a paper published last month in the journal Ecology.

    The research team spotted a group of dolphins immediately upon arriving to the site and began taking photos. Only when they reviewed their first images did they realize the dolphins were carrying the snake, according to the study.

    The researchers said it became clear the dolphins were playing with the snake rather than trying to eat it, in part because the interaction lasted for at least seven minutes.

    At one point, they observed the adult males each holding onto the anaconda and swimming in unison. Upon reviewing the photos later, the researchers realized the dolphins had erect *****es, which also supported the idea that it was a playful interaction.

    Playing is a well-documented behavior in mammals and dolphins generally, but the encounter was the first-ever recorded between a Bolivian river dolphin and a Beni anaconda.

    The researchers said many questions remained and offered possible alternative explanations for the behavior, including predation.


    A case of playful interaction between Bolivian River Dolphins with a Beni Anaconda. M Entiauspe Neto, Omar; Reichle, Steffen; Rios, Alejandro dos (2022). Figshare. Media. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19236462.v1
    Beni anacondas are large semi-aquatic snakes, generally reaching more than 6 feet long, and typically have no known predators. Other than one record of cannibalism, there's no published record of an animal eating a Beni anaconda.

    Because the snake was submerged for much of the encounter, the researchers said it most likely died.

    The researchers said it was also possible the adult male dolphins were teaching the juvenile dolphins that were present about the Beni anaconda, or that the dolphins were engaged in an attempt at courtship. They said male Amazon river dolphins have been observed in the past carrying objects in what appeared to be an attempt aimed at females.

    Diana Reiss, a marine mammal scientist at Hunter College who was not part of the study, told The New York Times the dolphins may have been sexually stimulated by the anaconda: "It could have been something to rub on."
    Gene Ching
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  13. #58
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    oh yay...


    ‘They’re everywhere’: Why California’s rattlesnake population is booming

    Andrew Pridgen
    May 25, 2022
    Watch your step: A rattlesnake can release about 130 different toxins during a bite. Fortunately for San Francisco residents they're the one major metro in California that doesn't have a discernable rattlesnake population, yet.
    Watch your step: A rattlesnake can release about 130 different toxins during a bite. Fortunately for San Francisco residents they're the one major metro in California that doesn't have a discernable rattlesnake population, yet.

    George Wilhelm/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag
    California lost 117,552 human residents in 2021, but it gained tens of thousands of new residents that love the state’s increasingly hot and arid climate.

    Rattlesnakes are thriving here, according to a recent joint Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and University of Michigan study, which reveals that the seven species of rattlesnakes found in California are among the fastest growing animal population in state. Why? It’s the same answer that may be driving some to leave the Golden State altogether: climate change.

    The snakes are thermoregulators, which means they are able to change their own body temperature to suit their surroundings. Coastal rattlesnake species have internal body temperatures of around 70 degrees, and their inland counterparts average around 74 degrees, the study says.

    But as California gets warmer, the rattlers find that they can get to more comfortable body temperatures, like their preferred range of a toasty 86 to 89 degrees Fahrenheit. In the study, researchers said the increase in number of snakes in California can affect the ecosystem. Rattlesnakes play an important part as both predator and prey. They help regulate the population of ground squirrels, and also serve as food for owls, hawks and eagles.

    “A warmer climate may help these snakes heat up to temperatures that are more optimal for digestion or reproduction,” said Hayley Crowell, a University of Michigan student researcher and the project’s lead, in a statement.

    What a rattlesnake actually sounds like
    When I relocated to the Central Coast a decade ago, a trail running friend told me to enjoy the many unexplored coastal switchbacks and easily accessible ocean view peaks. But then he gave me a word of caution: watch out for rattlesnakes.

    I laughed. I thought he was kidding.

    He wasn’t.


    A Northern Pacific rattlesnake adjusts to its new surroundings after being released into the wild in an uninhabited area of a Northern California forest by Len Ramirez of Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal on Sunday, June 30, 2019. The rise in temperatures across the state may have created a rattlesnake boom in recent years.
    San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst N/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Imag

    Over the years, I’ve caught glimpses of rattlers sunning themselves here or there or slipping in and out of the brush when they feel my approach. And unlike your co-workers who claim to be one right before inviting you out to drinks — rattlers are nature’s true introverts. They are notorious for trying to avoid trouble and wanting to be left alone. But once in a while, when agitated or surprised, they’ll ball up and give you their signature warning.

    The first time I heard the rattle go, it was ... surprising. It doesn’t sound like it does in the movies. Instead of a steady low maraca shake, it’s more of a high-pitched buzzing similar to an old brick Nokia left to vibrate on a tabletop — quick and urgent and annoying. When you hear that noise, my running friend said, run, don't walk, in the other direction.

    That advice has served me well over the years as I’ve seen a rattler here or there. I’ve only gotten close because from a near distance, they closely resemble dead manzanita branches in the middle of the trail. I even unwittingly strode over one who was having a midday siesta, only to turn around when the warning buzz started up in my wake.

    This spring thus far, however, has been a different story. Since April 1, I’ve had four rattler sightings, and there’s more to come — at least according to one expert.


    Len Ramirez of Auburn-based Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal travels up and down the state from April through October wrangling rattlesnakes. He says he's started this season busier than ever as recent studies show California's rattlesnake population may be booming with increasingly warmer temperatures.
    Photo Courtesy Len Ramirez

    “In California, the climate is perfect,” Len Ramirez, owner of Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal, told me earlier this week on a quick break between jobs. He’s busier than ever as the snakes started to come out of hibernation in droves last month. “It’s getting warmer. There’s development moving into more remote, previously undisturbed areas — that’s a part of it, too. I’m so busy, it never ends. I can’t even cut my lawn. Once the season gets going, it’s nonstop.”

    Ramirez, who lives in Auburn and has been in the snake wrangling biz since 1985, travels up and down the state to help people or businesses mitigate their rattlesnake issues, always releasing them back into the wild. He says he’s seeing rattlesnakes crop up in new areas all the time, noting that more coastal regions like Marin, Sonoma and Monterey counties — places where he never saw snakes in the 1980s and ’90s — are starting to see population increases. And places like the Bay Area and the Tahoe corridor (towns along Highway 50 between Sacramento and the lake) are becoming rattlesnake boomtowns.

    “In these spots where there is so much development near wildlands, everybody’s got a story, everybody’s got a sighting,” he says. “People don’t like to have snakes around their yards or around their pets, small children — but at the same time, they build houses on rock piles or in areas that run up right against open space or wildlife. And when that happens, we’re going to have encounters.”

    And while he’s worked some of the bigger metros like Sacramento or Bakersfield or Fresno, there is one place Ramirez says he’s never received a call: San Francisco. The city is cut off from the wildlands of Marin and Alameda counties and still has a marine layer that creates a cooler climate that is suboptimal to the vipers, two factors that are central to the snakes’ lack of presence in SF proper, the snake wrangler explains.

    “That’s not to say that someone might accidentally take one home from camping — those things do happen,” he says. “But in San Francisco, unless you go visit the Academy of Sciences, you won’t see one — which is good for those folks.“

    ‘If they feel threatened ... they’ll defend themselves’
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
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  14. #59
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    continued from previous

    But what happens when you do see one?

    “That’s a great question,” says Ken Paglia, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who, like rattler wrangler Ramirez, says that rattlesnake population in California is growing and vipers are now found in previously rattlesnake-free, or at least sparsely rattlesnake-populated areas. “There are some basic safety tips we share, but a lot of it comes down to awareness.”


    A very young Mojave desert sidewinder rattlesnake is seen shortly after dawn near Amboy Crater at Mojave Trails National Monument. Now through early fall is the time to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes as their populations continue to spike in California.
    David McNew/Getty Images

    Paglia says people should stay on trails and watch where they’re stepping. Avoid rock, wood and other debris piles. Store wood away from the footprint of your house and if you do see one, give it space, don’t poke it or stay and have a staring contest. “Given the opportunity, they’ll move away, but if they feel threatened or prevented from escaping, they’ll defend themselves.”

    And never, ever step in places where you can’t see, he says.

    “It’s really about paying attention to your surroundings.”

    What you should do if a rattlesnake bites you
    “I always say the best immediate rattlesnake bite treatment is your car keys and your cellphone,” Ramirez says.

    About 250 Californians a year are bitten, according to the LA County Public Health Department. Those who do suffer a bite should gently wash the wound, elevate it above the heart and go immediately to their nearest emergency room or medical stop for further treatment. Do not apply suction to the wound, further lacerate it or apply open flame to it.

    Californians will likely encounter rattlers outdoors this summer
    This is the first summer in two years where Californians are planning to hit the road and go exploring, fish and wildlife spokesperson Paglia says. This means there might be a lot of wild habitat that has been previously left alone during the height of the pandemic, so native animal populations — including rattlesnakes — may be prolific.


    Rattlesnake warning sign in Ballona Wetlands, Playa Vista, Los Angeles. If you're out and about hiking this spring and summer, do what the sign says and always be on the lookout for the vipers and stay on the marked trails where they're less likely to travel.
    Citizens of the Planet/Universal Images Group via Getty
    Rattlers are also thriving because they live on less. The Cal Poly-University of Michigan study says these vipers need only 500 to 600 calories per year, the equivalent of a single ground squirrel or half a Chipotle burrito, no guac, to you and me.

    Because they love the current climate and we’ve built on or trudge around their turf, the chances of a rattler encounter loom ever larger, Ramirez says.

    It’s good to remember, he says, that we’re the ones on their turf.

    “I got a million hits on my website in early spring,” he concludes. “They’re everywhere and people are thirsty for knowledge. They deserve to be here, and we’re treading on their territory. They don’t know if it's your house or garage. They don’t know you’re out for a hike. They’re just trying to exist and when you come into contact with one — which is increasingly more common — just start by giving them the respect they deserve.”
    'Snakes...why'd it have to be snakes?' - Indy
    Gene Ching
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  15. #60
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    215 lbs

    Florida Biologists Capture Record-Breaking 215-Pound Python
    Invasive Burmese pythons are wreaking havoc on native wildlife and ecosystems in the Everglades

    Sarah Kuta

    Daily Correspondent

    July 5, 2022 1:30 p.m.

    The female python weighed 215 pounds and measured 18 feet long. Courtesy of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida
    18
    Since the late 1970s, invasive Burmese pythons have been wreaking havoc on southwest Florida, gobbling up native species and harming the area’s biodiversity. With no natural predators to keep the population in check and plenty of tasty animals to feast upon, the pythons are getting bigger and more fertile.

    Now, biologists say they’ve captured the heaviest snake ever found in Florida: A 215-pound, 18-foot-long Burmese python that had likely eaten an entire adult white-tailed deer for her last meal. Biologists also found 122 eggs developing inside the snake, which they believe is a new record for the number of eggs a female python can produce during a single breeding cycle. An average clutch is around 43 eggs, officials said at a June 22 news briefing.

    Scientists with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, tracked down and humanely euthanized the monster snake as part of the organization’s efforts to curb the invasive python population in the Florida Everglades. Native to southeast Asia, Burmese pythons have been gaining ground in southwest Florida since 1979, when the first snake was likely released by a pet owner or escaped into the wild, according to the nonprofit Nature Conservancy.

    Though it's impossible to know for sure, biologists believe the large female they recently captured could be the original python that found her way into the wilderness decades ago, reports Amy Bennett Williams for the Fort Myers News-Press.

    Since then, the snakes have been thriving in the Everglades—so much so that biologists now ask members of the public to help them hunt for pythons every August. Participants can compete for various prizes, including $2,500 for capturing the most pythons during a two-week stretch. Last year, more than 600 people from 25 states hunted the snakes.

    These and other python control efforts have been successful. Since 2013, scientists and citizen hunters have removed more than 1,000 of the snakes from a 100-square-mile region of southwest Florida. Biologists captured the previous record-holder—a female python that weighed 185 pounds—in June 2021.

    Scientists, in particular, tend to focus their efforts on removing large, reproductive females to help disrupt the breeding cycle. To hunt this mammoth female snake, biologists deployed a male “scout” snake named Dionysus, or Dion for short, equipped with an implanted radio transmitter. Dion led researchers right to the large female, which wrestled with the biologists for about 20 minutes before finally surrendering.

    “How do you find the needle in the haystack? You could use a magnet and, in a similar way, our male scout snakes are attracted to the biggest females around,” says Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, in a statement.

    After hauling the snake through the trees to a field truck, researchers took her to a lab for a necropsy. In addition to the 122 eggs, they also found hoof cores, which suggests she swallowed a deer somewhat recently. When stretched out, the snake's length was equal to the height of a giraffe, reports Insider’s Alia Shoaib.

    Over the years, researchers have found dozens of other types of wildlife inside the stomachs of pythons, including 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds and two species of reptiles. Pythons have contributed to the decline of some mammal species, including marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, foxes, racoons, opossums and bobcats, particularly in remote parts of Everglades National Park, per the U.S. Geological Survey.

    “This is the wildlife issue of our time for southern Florida,” says Bartoszek in the statement.

    Sarah Kuta | READ MORE

    Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.
    Big snake

    ...plus 122 eggs.
    Gene Ching
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