South Carolina: On the same day police found 23 reptiles and a Beagle mix starved to death in Army Staff Sergeant Kurt Hafner's apartment, he was busy posting a review on Facebook about his recent purchase from SD Tactical Arms

SOUTH CAROLINA -- A Richland County man has been charged with 24 counts of ill treatment to animals after deputies serving an eviction found dead animals in his apartment.

Kurt Hafner, 36, was arrested Wednesday. Investigators said Hafner is a staff sergeant stationed at Fort Jackson.

Photo from 2006 posted by Hafner

The Richland County Sheriff's Department charged Hafner after the animals were discovered in an apartment on Meredith Square, which is across the street from Richland Northeast High School, while on April 10.

Investigators found a 15-18 pound Beagle mix, one bearded dragon, two alligator snapping turtles and a variety of snakes,  including extremely venomous ones, all dead and starved to death in the home.

According to Sheriff Leon Lott, investigators determined Hafner abandoned the animals in the home without food and water since February.

 

Investigator Joseph Clarke said it is the worst animal cruelty case he's ever seen.

“This home was in disarray, to say the least," Clarke said. "There was a lot of fecal matter from the dog that we found deceased - which indicated that the dog survived for a long time eating whatever it could to survive before running out of food and finally, slowly starving to death. 

"There was personal papers, residual ammunition, and personal property belonging to the suspect. The house was in tremendously bad shape with a really bad odor of decomposition.”

 

Snake experts from All Things Wild assisted in locating the dead animals.

“He had actually posted something on the door that said venomous snakes, this was during a regular check of the air condition filters. At that point, it voided his lease. That’s when we discovered at least 24 deceased animals.

 

 

"Twenty-three were reptiles. Bearded dragon, albino, boa constrictors, eastern diamondback rattle snakes and we did find one deceased dog that was in a bad state of decomposition.”

Hafner was taken into custody at Fort Jackson after the sheriff's department made contact with his chain of command.

In the video clip, it said that South Carolina doesn't have a law against owning poisonous / venomous animals.

(WISTV - April 20, 2017)

Ohio: Video of kids playing with alligator, pythons at daycare prompts investigation

OHIO -- A video posted on a Ohio child care center’s website of kids playing with an alligator and a python has started an investigation into Captive Born Reptiles.

The ODA says the undocumented animals were brought to the daycare illegally.

 

According to a search warrant, ODA received a complaint of an alligator and a 12-foot constrictor snake being handled by children.

Terry Wilkins, the owner of the reptiles and Captive Born Reptiles, is known showing off his animals to local schools.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture took five rattlesnakes from Terry Wilkins’ home in the 300 block of Leaning Fence Court in Pickerington.

Six constrictors more than 12 feet in length were taken from Captive Born Reptiles on Morse Road.

In Ohio, snakes longer than 12 feet require a permit. Venomous snakes also require a permit. The state requires owners to show the animals are cared for, hold adequate liability insurance for venomous snakes and provide an action plan if the snake escapes.

Mark Bruce, communications director for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, said the seized snakes were not in good health. He said the agency is working with reptile experts at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium to provide care for the snakes, which were not kept at an adequate temperature and suffered from skin issues, including mites, officials said.

The snakes are being housed at a temporary facility in Reynoldsburg. If Wilkins does not get the snakes back after a hearing, they will be sent to a reptile sanctuary.

OBSTRUCTION
Authorities believe Wilkins took additional reptiles out of state to his pet store Newport, Kentucky.

A TV station in Cincinnati caught up Wilkins in Newport.

Wilkins claims the agents intentionally left 12 snakes in the recent freezing cold during the search warrant, resulting in their deaths, so he could not get a permit for the snakes.

As for the alligators, he says they were taken out of state “for their own safety.”

Wilkins will face a misdemeanor charge for each animal he has not registered.

TERRY WILKINS' FAMILY'S VERSION OF EVENTS
Keiko Wilkins at Captive Born Reptiles posted on Facebook January 25, 2017

Sorry for the delayed post but here is the video of the Captive Born Reptiles raid that occurred on January 17, 2017. Terry will be making a follow-up video to explain how the situation stands currently. I would like to restate that the Capital Area Humane Society, Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Fairfield County Humane Society have had over thirty people through the my family home and reptile store (Captive Born Reptiles). With over 500 animals within both of these locations, not one single citation has been given out for a sick animal, inhumane treatment of an animal or unsanitary conditions. Those thirty people including four vets spent over seventeen hours going through our property. One of the ODA’s vets, Dennis Summers did steal two anacondas from CBR. He is currently under investigation by the state inspector general.

  

 

(WNCN - January 27, 2017)

New York: Venomous snake bites owner; six snakes seized from home

NEW YORK -- A snake owner was bitten on the hand by one of his venomous snakes at his New York home.

The man, who the SCPA identified as 32-year-old Richard Downing, was handling the Egyptian saw-scaled viper, which he owns, at the house on Salem Avenue Monday night when he was bitten on the middle finger of his right hand.

Downing was alert and conscious, but taken by helicopter to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx to get a venom antidote.

When he got there, however, it was determined that treatment was not necessary.

Six venomous snakes were confiscated from the self-described professional snake handler's home later Tuesday.

"It was just one prick. It was my own stupidity," said Downing, who was feeding the viper at home when she bit him.

 

Richard Downing

"I've been doing this for 15 years. I've rolled in snakes," he said. "It was just wrong timing. You play with fire, you get bit by fire. I'm extremely lucky to be alive and breathing."

Downing said he used to have a permit for the snakes but it expired. However, authorities say you cannot get a permit for these types of snakes [exceptions are probably made for zoos but not private owners].

The viper which bit him

“They’re very small,” Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross said. “They’re only maybe a foot long, but deadly.”

“It’s known to be one of the most deadly snakes in at least Africa, if not the entire world,” Dr. Vincent Nguyen, Jacobi Medical Center, added.

All six of his venomous snakes -- including the viper, a Monocled Cobra, an African Puff Adder, a Western African Viper (may mean a Western Bush Viper) and two rattlesnakes - were confiscated by the Suffolk County Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The victim said he always kept the snakes in a locked tank in a locked room, and insisted they were never a threat to the public.

"He is very lucky to be alive," said a representative from the SCPA.

Prior to this particular event, the SPCA said it had already planned to hold an event October 15 where people can turn in their illegal reptiles with no questions asked.

(ABC13 - Sept 6, 2016)

California: Dog bit by rattlesnake saved by La Verne police officer

CALIFORNIA -- When Officer Chris Dransfeldt started his shift on April 4, 2016 little did he know he'd be an ambulance driver for someone's family pet that day.

At about 4:20 pm, La Verne dispatch received a call from a frantic 17-year-old girl who was home with the family pet, an 11-year-old Chocolate Lab named Bailey.

Bailey the Labrador

The young girl told dispatch that Bailey had just been bit in the face by a rattlesnake while playing in the back yard. Officers Chris Dransfeldt and Greg Rodriguez responded to the residence in North La Verne near the Foothills where rattlesnake sightings are common.

On arrival, Officer Dransfeldt noticed that Bailey had been bit near one eye and was starting to have a reaction as his face was beginning to swell up. The young girl told Officer Dransfeldt that the dog was like another child to her parents and the family would be devastated if Bailey were to die.

After seeing that the young girl did not have a mode of transportation, told her to call her mother who was at work. Once on the phone, Officer Dransfeldt explained the circumstances and asked what she wanted to do with the dog. The mother explained that she was at work and could not leave and if she were to leave, by the time she got there it might be too late.

Officer Dransfeldt, who is himself a dog lover and seeing what the dog meant to the family, took it upon himself to take the dog to the nearest veterinary hospital in La Verne. When he arrived he was told that they did not have any anti venom and the only animal hospital that carried it was located in Upland.

Officer Dransfeldt put Bailey in the back seat of his cruiser, where he lay whimpering from the pain of the bite, and quickly, but carefully drove to VCA Animal Hospital in Upland.

The veterinarians quickly began administering anti venom along with fluids in order to save Bailey's life. Bailey spent the night at the hospital and, we are happy to report, he was released this morning and is back home recuperating with his family and will be fine.

 

From Christine O'Donnell:

"I looked out and she was standing within a few inches from a rattlesnake," daughter Jacquelyn Munet said. Munet, 17, was home alone and without a car as she tried to coax Bailey back inside with her favorite treat, bread.

"She was debating between the bread and the snake, and she decided to go sniff the snake. she was within a 10 inches or so from it and it just struck her, right in between the eyes," Munet said.

Knowing rattlesnake bites are deadly, she called 911, then her parents.

"I went into immediate panic," Mom Sylvia Hernandez said about received the call.  "Working over an hour away commute with traffic.  I was panicking to figure out how I could get there," Hernandez said.

"Bailey is one of our family members. We've had her for 11 years and she's always been treated like a sibling. lt was really scary to see her in that situation, to see her in pain," Munet said.

Dransfeldt didn't hesitate.  He got approval from mom and put Bailey in his car.

"She was making noises and I could tell she was in pain. She was panting for air," Dransfeldt said.

He brought her  to two vet clinics until he found one that had the right anti-venom to treat the dog.

 

Bailey with her hero Officer Dransfeldt

"I didn't really event think about it. We just had to get her to the nearest Doctor. The only way to do that was for me to drive the dog.  I would expect someone to do that for my animal if it was the same situation," Dransfeldt said regarding.  He owns a dog and a cat.

Hernandez says living near the base of the foothills means rattlesnakes are always a threat this time of year.  She makes sure both their dogs get the yearly vaccine against rattlesnake bites, and says that also might have helped slow the process.

(FOX 11 Los Angeles - Apr 5, 2016)