You thought you had a bad day at the office last week? Not compared to this guy you didn't.
An African cobra capable of projecting its venom 10 feet sank its fangs into the finger of a 26-year-old local pet store employee Friday, an accident that tapped a little-known store of antivenin at the Houston Zoo.The nonfatal incident was the third bite delivered by a poisonous snake this year in Harris County, which, other than the city of Houston, has no prohibitions against selling, breeding or keeping dangerous reptiles, according to local experts and a county animal control official.
The other two bites were inflicted by snakes in the wild.
The employee, whose name was not disclosed, was cleaning out a display case Friday morning at Pets-A-Plenty The Ultimate Reptile Shop at Texas 6 and Bellaire when a red spitting cobra attacked.
Thankfully, the bite was dry, meaning no venom was discharged, and the employee is doing well. But still. That's gotta suck.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 20, 2003 to Elsewhere in Houston | TrackBackIt doesn't suck. It bites. ;-)
Does this guy get a raise for hazardous duty?
Posted by: William Hughes on December 21, 2003 7:07 AMThere will be calls to ban the sale of the animals, and such a ban is the likely outcome. But that is not the solution. The solution is not to put people doing stuff they're not trained for or that they don't take seriously.
Posted by: Frank Wilhoit on December 21, 2003 3:55 PM