Kentucky Zoo Director Recovering After Bite from ‘Highly Venomous’ Snake

• Kentucky Reptile Zoo co-director Jim Harrison was working on an anti-venom project with two Jameson’s mamba snakes when he was bitten
• A Jameson’s mamba is a type of snake that is “highly venomous,” with a bite that can cause paralysis and respiratory failure
• Harrison said that after the bite, he received anti-venom and was put in a helicopter to the hospital, where he was intubated

A Kentucky zoo director is lucky to be alive after a bite from a venomous snake.

Jim Harrison, co-director of the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, told WKYT-TV that he had been attempting to breed two snakes on Monday, April 28, for an anti-venom project when a Jameson’s mamba snake suddenly bit him.

“The male shot out. I grabbed it with wraps, and then the female took advantage of me not paying attention and then shot up and bit me,” Harrison recalled to the outlet. 

A Jameson’s mamba is a “dull green snake” native to equatorial Africa that is “highly venomous,” according to the African Snake Bite Institute. The institute added that the snake’s bite is potently neurotoxic, which means its venom can affect the nervous system and cause paralysis and respiratory failure.

Kentucky Reptile Zoo co-director Kristen Wiley said that after Harrison was bitten, he was “in pretty serious shape rather quickly,” adding that zoo staff needed to rush to get him a dose of antivenom that she called “anti-serum.”

Harrison, who has received at least 16 snake bites throughout his career, said that he had a keeper drive him from the zoo in Slade to Stanton, about 10 miles away, where the “anti-serum vials” were located. 

“And they started the anti-serum, five vials there, they put me in the helicopter and intubated me, and after that, I don’t know anything,” Harrison recalled to WKYT-TV. 

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“Those guys here that responded right away, they definitely saved his life,” Wiley told the outlet. “[Harrison] was in the ICU for about three days. He was intubated for about two days, which means he was on a ventilator for that time.”

Wiley said Harrison is “recovering well,” and will hopefully “leave the hospital soon.” However, there are still some withdrawal symptoms that Harrison is facing, including a shooting pain in the bitten arm.

“It’s not instant pain. The pain is some of the muscle breaking down, I believe,” Harrison told WKYT-TV. “There’s not a lot known about this particular species and, as far as I know, nobody in the United States has been bitten by one.”

He explained to the outlet that he had been researching Jameson’s mamba venom to create an antivenom and that the venom is being studied as an alternative to opioid pain treatment.

“Obviously, that would be a huge advantage if they could mitigate pain without having the same addictive tendencies as opioids do,” Harrison said.

Despite being hospitalized in the ICU, Harrison said he is still determined to continue his work. He told WKYT-TV, “As soon as they let me go, I’m back working.”