A Nation of Snake Handlers

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Read this the other day in the local paper. Hits the nail right on the head.

A Nation of Snake Handlers How many people must die before the U.S. gives up this insane practice?

By William Saletan

This weekend, after 20 years of handling snakes, Jamie Coots received his final bite. A rattler got him in the back of the hand. It happened as Coots, a Pentecostal minister, was leading the Saturday night service at his church in Kentucky. Two hours later, he was dead.

The same thing happened two years earlier in West Virginia. Mack Wolford, another serpent-handling preacher, succumbed to a rattler’s venom.

After scores of deaths from messing with snakes, you’d think people would give it up. But they haven’t. Three months ago a 15-year-old boy died in Ohio. A local TV station said it happened when he brought a snake and “passed it to a 16-year-old friend.” A similar tragedy occurred the same day in California, when a homeowner “was showing his friend a snake.” “It’s a shock that something like this could happen,” said a neighbor. “I had no idea there was ever a snake in the home.”

On Dec. 1 a young man died in Florida after friends brought a snake to his apartment. “They passed it around,” according to the Sun-Sentinel, and the snake delivered the fatal wound when the man’s girlfriend picked it up. “It was a stupid accident," said the dead man’s grandfather. "It never should have happened." On Dec. 20 a 3-year-old boy died in Arizona after discovering his parents’ snake. A local TV station reported that “the parents told investigators the snake was inadvertently misplaced for a short time. That’s when the child found it.”

On Dec. 22 a 10-year-old girl died in West Virginia. The Charleston Gazette said it happened while she and a 9-year-old friend were handling a snake. A sheriff’s officer told the Gazette, “We're not blaming the parents, but we do urge everyone to make sure that your snakes are secure.” On Dec. 30 a 10-year-old boy died in Alabama. The sheriff’s office said he “was in a bedroom with his 12-year-old brother and 14-year-old male friend” and received the wound “while they were handling a snake.”

In November an Indiana man died while playing with a snake at an apartment complex. A 16-year-old Idaho boy died at a house “where people were handling snakes.” One young man in Georgia caused an inadvertent death “while playing with a snake.” Another suffered a fatal wound “while handling a snake” at a friend’s house. A 42-year-old Tennessee man died when his snake bit him.

How could people be this foolish? The good news is that when it comes to snakes, they aren’t. None of the stories I just told you, except for the ones about the two preachers, is literally true.

The bad news is that all of the stories did happen, and all the victims died. But they didn’t die from handling snakes. They died from handling guns. All I did was change a few words in the news reports: gun to snake, gunshot to snakebite, discharged to bit.

I took these stories from Slate’s archive of post-Newtown gun deaths. The archive captures a year’s worth of reported fatalities, from December 2012 to December 2013. It includes more than 12,000 victims. We are killing one another, our children, and ourselves. We are a nation of gun handlers, as reckless as anyone who handles serpents.

I’m not going to tell you that the solution to this madness is to pass another gun law. As the National Rifle Association points out, such laws often fail to achieve their objectives. We need more than laws. We need to change our culture. We must ask ourselves whether the comforts and pleasures of owning a firearm are worth the risks. Having a gun in your home is far more dangerous than having a snake.

Nineteen years ago, shortly after Jamie Coots began handling serpents, a bite killed a woman in his congregation. The county attorney wanted to charge Coots with violating Kentucky’s law against handling snakes in church. The judge, however, refused to sign the complaint. He told the prosecutor: “You and I both know that this practice is not going to stop until either rattlesnakes or snake handlers become extinct."

That’s a good bet. And it’s a good bet that the snake handlers will go extinct before the snakes do. But the more frightening question is what will happen to the gun handlers. We have 300 million firearms in this country. Pray for the owners, their children, and their friends.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Most of the world’s approximately 3,000 snake species are nonvenomous and only 200 are considered by the World Health Organization to be medically significant venomous species. However, snakebite fatalities are common occurrences in many parts of the world. According to a 2008 study published in PLoS Medicine, an estimated 20,000 human deaths occur each year from snakebites, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, though with the unreported incidents the total may be as high as 94,000.

Africa

Though North Africa and the Middle East have relatively few snakebite fatalities-- 43 per year -- sub-Saharan Africa is a substantial contributor to snakebite fatality rates worldwide. An estimated 3,529 people die every year, though this is a conservative estimate; more liberal estimates suggest that this number of fatalities could be as high as 33,000. As with Asia, underreporting is an issue throughout Africa, due primarily to a lack of data detailing snakebite prevalence and the rural areas in which snakebites tend to occur.

North America, Australia and Europe

Despite the relative abundance of venomous species, few deaths attributed to snakebites occur in the United States and none are reported in Canada, partially because of access to appropriate medical care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the 7,000 to 8,000 people bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S. every year, only 5 die. Similar fatality rates hold true for Western and Central Europe, with a conservative estimate of 5 and 6, respectively. Eastern Europe had slightly more deaths with an estimated 37 per year. Despite the high number of venomous snakes in Australia, only about 2 to 4 deaths occur every year from snakebites.

http://animals.pawnation.com/snake-bite-death-statistics-worldwide-2431.html

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Most of the world’s approximately 3,000 snake species are nonvenomous and only 200 are considered by the World Health Organization to be medically significant venomous species. However, snakebite fatalities are common occurrences in many parts of the world. According to a 2008 study published in PLoS Medicine, an estimated 20,000 human deaths occur each year from snakebites, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, though with the unreported incidents the total may be as high as 94,000.

Africa

Though North Africa and the Middle East have relatively few snakebite fatalities-- 43 per year -- sub-Saharan Africa is a substantial contributor to snakebite fatality rates worldwide. An estimated 3,529 people die every year, though this is a conservative estimate; more liberal estimates suggest that this number of fatalities could be as high as 33,000. As with Asia, underreporting is an issue throughout Africa, due primarily to a lack of data detailing snakebite prevalence and the rural areas in which snakebites tend to occur.

North America, Australia and Europe

Despite the relative abundance of venomous species, few deaths attributed to snakebites occur in the United States and none are reported in Canada, partially because of access to appropriate medical care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the 7,000 to 8,000 people bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S. every year, only 5 die. Similar fatality rates hold true for Western and Central Europe, with a conservative estimate of 5 and 6, respectively. Eastern Europe had slightly more deaths with an estimated 37 per year. Despite the high number of venomous snakes in Australia, only about 2 to 4 deaths occur every year from snakebites.

http://animals.pawnation.com/snake-bite-death-statistics-worldwide-2431.html

Didn't actually read the piece, did you?

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Didn't actually read the piece, did you?

I was replying to the topic, trying to stay on topic. That's how it works these days. Some people get booted for straying off topic.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I was replying to the topic, trying to stay on topic. That's how it works these days. Some people get booted for straying off topic.

The topic ain't snakes. Had you read the piece, you would know.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Snake control is easier than gun control unless it"s a trouser snake. Those are the hardest to control.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Sure it is. Just read it again to be sure...

A Nation of Snake Handlers

Snake control is easier than gun control unless it"s a trouser snake. Those are the hardest to control.

Perhaps you are referring to trouser trout, and I would agree that those can be slimy little buggers...

But the hardest snakes to control, if you read post #2 in this thread, are the Sub-Saharan African ones. You can't argue that one, it was a scientific study...

[Darnell 8,479]

I think these deaths should be taken as a natural form of human evolution.

Yes, Really !

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Snake control is easier than gun control unless it"s a trouser snake. Those are the hardest to control.

This is true.

Sure it is. Just read it again to be sure...

A Nation of Snake Handlers

You read the headline. Gotta dig deeper than that if you want to partake in the discussion.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Thread needs to be deleted as the title does not match the topic. Also racist and inflammatory against gun owners. Reported.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Thread needs to be deleted as the title does not match the topic. Also racist and inflammatory against gun owners. Reported.

Nice try. There's nothing racist in the opinion piece I posted nor is it inflammatory against gun owners. This happens to be an column that was carried by many major newspapers across the nation. I take it you either disagree with it or can't stand being presented with the ugly truth. So debate the opinion rather than the headline. I did not make the headline up. It's the headline of the column and VJ requires that the thread title display that headline. So if you want to report anything, I suggest you go report yourself for trying to hijack this thread with off-topic posts. Otherwise, I will.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Oh, but it is racist by the definition of racist on this forum. I said it tongue-in-cheek because I think it is nothing short of ridiculous how many times people shout "racist" when the things said are nowhere near it. Makes about as much sense for this topic as for those other times. (For example: Statement - "Obama lied about Benghazi" Response - "You're racist!")

The article basically calls gun owners foolish and reckless, and draws a parallel between owning a gun and handling a poisonous snake. Which may seem clever to some, but it's far from accurate.

So to a SANE gun owner, it is very inflammatory, as per your normal modus operandi.

But since you think this guy paints such an accurate story about guns, you might be interested in his article where he claims that women reach the big-O 65% of the time with the "front door" method, while 94% got there using the "back door". Now if we can just get all the women in the world to believe him... http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2010/10/the_ass_man_cometh.single.html

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I think these deaths should be taken as a natural form of human evolution.

Yes, Really !

Amen big d. Just like Pastor Jamie. His right

Btw. Stupidly written article

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

This is true.

You read the headline. Gotta dig deeper than that if you want to partake in the discussion.

As a person who knows a thing or two about making bad grades in college grammar. That would get an f.

[Operator 1,927]