Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993 TAG: 9309010211
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE LENGTH: Medium
So people took notice when two Prince William County residents were bitten by pet cobras within 10 days.
Bill Haast, director of a snake-venom research laboratory in Florida, said it's surprising for two people to be bitten by cobras in such a short time.
"People get bit; two or three years go by before you get another," Haast said. "And that's in the whole country. Two in the same county within a week is unusual."
William Blakeslee, 41, of Woodbridge was in serious but stable condition at the Washington Hospital Center after being bitten Monday by his Pakistani black cobra.
Drew Yeager, 34, of Haymarket spent nine days in Prince William Hospital after being bitten Aug. 19 by a black forest cobra, one of 31 poisonous snakes he kept at home.
According to data from poison control centers, one person in the United States died last year of a cobra bite, and one died of a rattlesnake bite. More than 1,200 people were bitten by poisonous native snakes.
Tony Dongarra, a Virginia Beach snake breeder and one of the founders of the Herpetoculture Society of Virginia, recommends strict regulation and inspection of private collections of poisonous snakes.
But Dongarra said he thinks people should be allowed to keep the snakes.
"Given proper care, a lot of species are very docile," he said. "And they're very impressive."
Prince William County prohibits keeping poisonous snakes. County animal officials were set to confiscate and destroy Yeager's collection when they discovered the reptiles had been removed.
The snakes are reportedly in Stafford County, where there is no law against them.
Blakeslee's cobra was destroyed by the Prince William County animal warden.
by CNB