Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Maryland man found dead in home surrounded by more than 100 snakes was killed by venomous bite

The police had found him unresponsive on floor and he was pronounced dead on scene

Maroosha Muzaffar
Thursday 14 April 2022 15:41 BST
Comments
Police officers had found the man in Pomfret, Maryland unresponsive and his house was full of more than 100 snakes
Police officers had found the man in Pomfret, Maryland unresponsive and his house was full of more than 100 snakes (Mark Segraves / Twitter )

The Maryland man who was found dead in his home in January with over 100 venomous and non-venomous snakes around him died from a snake bite, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

The Charles County man was found dead on the floor by his neighbours after they didn’t see the 49-year-old man for more than a day, local reports said then.

The neighbours then informed the police and officers conducted a wellness check at the home in the 5500 block of Raphael Drive in Pomfret around 6pm.

At the time, the police had said that there were no signs of foul play in the man’s death.

The officials made an entry into his home through the front door and he was pronounced dead on the scene.

A spokesperson from the office of the chief medical examiner confirmed that the “cause of death is snake envenomation and the manner of death is an accident.”

The man lived in a house with 124 snakes, including a 14-foot-long Burmese python.

The animal control officials took the snakes away then and said that they had not encountered “this kind of thing before.”

CBS Local Baltimore reported that the police said that Charles County animal control coordinated rescue efforts for the reptiles with assistance from experts from North Carolina and Virginia.

Police had said that the snakes were of different varieties and “in tanks situated on racks.”

The man had kept snakes of breeds like pythons, rattlesnakes, cobras and black mambas.

Police had to call in experts to separate the venomous ones from the non-venomous ones.

NBC reported that the non-venomous snakes were taken to Virginia by a licensed handler while the venomous snakes were headed to North Carolina with a licensed handler.

Owning venomous snakes in Maryland is illegal, according to the local law.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in