PET SNAKE KILLS ASPIRING ZOO KEEPER.Byline: Lisa Van Proyen and Phillip W. Browne Staff Writers An aspiring zoo keeper who kept 10 deadly snakes and six piranhas
Anita Finch, 33, was found dead in her mobile home by a friend and the lot manager Wednesday evening. Charlene McMorris, manager of the Vicabob Trailer Park Village at 7560 Woodman Place, said her tenant loved her snakes and feared city inspectors would confiscate To expropriate private property for public use without compensating the owner under the authority of the Police Power of the government. To seize property. When property is confiscated it is transferred from private to public use, usually for reasons such as them. ``My feeling is, she died for her snakes so they wouldn't take them,'' McMorris said. ``She has been bitten at least four times before, and she knew if she called for help they would be taken away.'' Police and coroner's officials confirmed a snake killed her, ruling out foul play. ``It's the first case I've seen to die from a snake bite,'' said Los Angeles County Coroner's spokesman Scott Carrier. ``She got bitten by one of the deadly snakes, went into convulsions Convulsions Also termed seizures; a sudden violent contraction of a group of muscles. Mentioned in: Heat Disorders and died,'' said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Lisa Phillips of the Van Nuys Division. McMorris said she knew the snakes were illegal to keep but never forced her tenant to get rid of them. ``She would have been devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. if I did that,'' McMorris said. ``Maybe I should have called animal control, but that would have killed her. I always thought that if she got hurt, I would remove them while she was in the hospital.'' Animal control officers removed 12 snakes two that were not dangerous and the six piranhas, said Dan Knapp, general manager of L.A. Animal Control. ``She appeared to enjoy the danger and she took her life into her hands,'' he said. McMorris said she picked up most of the snakes on Arizona and High Desert roads. But the two snakes that might have killed her are not indigenous to the United States and may have been purchased illegally, Knapp said. Knapp said they believe the snake that killed her was a Gabon Viper, a Central African snake that can grow to about 7 feet long and 18 pounds. Finch's viper was only about a foot long, said Carrier. But coroner's officials have not ruled out that another snake, called the Hog-Nosed Sand Viper, may have delivered the deadly bite. Puncture marks were found on the back of her hand, which was severely swollen, Carrier said. When police found her, a note was clenched clench tr.v. clenched, clench·ing, clench·es 1. To close tightly: clench one's teeth; clenched my fists in anger. 2. in her hand that read: ``Northridge Hospital Ask for ICU ICU intensive care unit. ICU abbr. intensive care unit ICU see intensive care unit. ICU ,'' Carrier said. ``We can only surmise she was attempting to seek help but was not able to do so because whatever happened, happened so suddenly,'' he said. Animal control officers killed the 10 venomous snakes and delivered the heads to the Coroner's Office to determine which one bit the woman, Carrier said. Besides the Sand Viper and the Gabon, the eight snakes destroyed were: a 3-foot Western rattler; two 4-foot Eastern diamondback rattlers; a South Pacific rattlesnake rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, hollow segments of skin, which, when shaken, make a whirring sound. , considered extremely rare; one King snake; a gopher snake; and two copperheads Copperheads, in the American Civil War, a reproachful term for those Northerners sympathetic to the South, mostly Democrats outspoken in their opposition to the Lincoln administration. They were especially strong in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, where Clement L. . Six piranha also were taken from a fish tank, Carrier said. Finch had been a longtime volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo The Los Angeles Zoo founded in 1966, is a large zoo located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Zoo, located in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, is home to 1,200 animals from around the world. and was enrolled in the animal keeper's training course. She would have taken her final exam this Saturday, a step in gaining employment there, said Micahel Dee, general curator of the zoo. ``She loved reptiles and she loved to learn,'' Dee said. ``This is devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. to us. She was one of our promising up-and-coming students.'' Finch trusted her snakes so much that she would let them loose as she cleaned their cages, McMorris said. She believes Finch was searching for a missing snake because her home was turned ``upside down,'' with the refrigerator moved and pans scattered around the kitchen. ``She'd say `I'm immune to them.' She was not afraid of them,'' McMorris said. |
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