Officials have confirmed that a man, who was found unresponsive inside a house with over 100 snakes, died of a snake bite earlier this year in Charles County, Maryland.
The 49-year-old man, whose name is not yet released, was found unresponsive at his Pomfret residence on January 19. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, all the snakes were in enclosures. Officials earlier stated that it was too soon to say whether the snakes were involved in the man’s death.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has now identified the cause of death as snake envenomation. It was an accidental death.
Terrifying discovery of a huge snake collection
A neighbor on Raphael Drive realized he hadn’t seen the man all day. When the neighbor peeped through the window, he noticed the man had fallen. He dialed 911 for assistance. When deputies arrived, they discovered the man unconscious. Soon, animal control officers arrived and began inspecting the man’s enormous snake collection.
The collection included poisonous snakes that are illegal to maintain in Maryland. Rattlesnakes, cobras, black mambas, and pythons, including a 14-foot-long Burmese python, were among the species discovered. The late man’s mother allowed officials to take the reptiles away.
Crew members spent hours getting the snakes out
While Charles County animal control officials separated the non-venomous snakes, experts handled the venomous snakes. A man was seen carrying a massive yellow snake out of the house in a transparent plastic container.
“Our chief animal control officer said in his more than 30 years of experience, he had not encountered this kind of thing before,” county spokeswoman Jennifer Harris said.
Reptile handlers had to adequately warm up their cars for over a half-hour to safely transport the reptiles. A licensed handler was scheduled to transport the non-venomous snakes to Virginia. A second licensed handler was scheduled to transport the venomous snakes to North Carolina.
“The snakes appeared to have been cared for meticulously. They were all very properly secured. They were racked. He did not keep a lot of furniture inside the home, so there was no place if a snake, for example, were to escape, where it could hide or harm anybody,” Harris said.
Officials stated that they did not believe the snakes posed a threat to the public. This is because the snakes would not be able to withstand the cold weather, even if they managed to escape from the house.