Farming for Venom: Survey of Snake Venom Extraction Facilities Worldwide

Farming for venom: Survey of snake venom extraction facilities worldwide

Randy L. Powell1,2, Elda E. Sánchez1, John C. Pérez1

1 Natural Toxins Research Center, Texas A & M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, Texas 78363, USA 2 Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. Facilities that maintain and extract venom from venomous snakes were located worldwide. Information concerning numbers, distribution, years in operation, ownership (private or government), facilities open to the public for display of animals or educational programs, number of snakes and species maintained, prevalence of captive breeding programs, venom extraction frequency, and occupational hazards was collected. A total of 34 facilities in 21 countries were located. Information (all or in part) was obtained on 32 of these facilities. Forty-four percent of the facilities existed in countries as the sole venom extraction enterprise. The length of time they have been in operation ranged from 1 to over 90 years and are 56% private and 44% government owned. Thirty-ﬁve percent of the facilities are open to the public for display of animals or educational purposes. Most facilities maintained animal totals between 50 and 1500. However, the number of species maintained at these facilities varied greatly, ranging from 1 to 70. The majority of facilities have some type of captive breeding program, with some reporting as high as 80% of their total animals captive born. While some facilities maintain both exotic and native species, most (68%) house native species only. The majority of the facilities reported that venom was collected or “extracted” from snakes on 14 to 30 day intervals. Occupational hazards of employees regarding accidental envenomation or “snakebite” varied. Envenomation frequencies at facilities ranged from zero to as high as one accident every eight months. Only one death was reported due to an envenomation accident.

Key words: Envenomation; occupational hazard; snake venom; snakebite; venom extraction; venom extraction facilities.

Introduction

Humans have always had an intense fascination and interest in venomous snakes and venom. Historically, snake venom has been viewed as a valuable aid and curative for various illnesses and was frequently used in early medical therapies. Early Chinese and Egyptian doctors frequently utilized snake venom as a treatment for a variety of

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2006 APPLIED HERPETOLOGY 3: 1-10 Also available online - www.brill.nl 2 Randy L. Powell et al. ailments and diseases. The development of antivenom as the first effective treatment for snake envenomation occurred over a century ago by Albert Calmette and the team of Cesaire Phisalix and Gabriel Bertrand (Brygoo, 1982; Hawgood, 1992; Hawgood, 1999). After this initial discovery, the production of antivenom began in several countries (Chippaux and Goyffon, 1991). The production of antivenom requires venom and consequently the first steady demand for snake venoms began. Currently there are over 35 antivenom manufacturers worldwide that produce both monovalent (effective for a specific species) and polyvalent (generally effective for several species) types (Appendix, 2003). The manufacturing of antivenoms contributes to the demand for venoms. How- ever, there are other uses for venom, including numerous biomedical and biochemical applications. Snake venoms are complex mixtures of enzymes, proteins, metal ions, lipids, and glycoproteins (Willard, 1978; Hider et al., 1991; Tu, 1996). Snake venoms are of tremendous interest and value to researchers due to the large amount of bioactive components and enzymes they contain and their modes of action and in- teraction they have on cells and tissues. Snake venom components are used in basic physiology and biochemistry research to delay or increase biochemical and cellular processes and they are also used in a variety of medications and diagnostic tests (Russell, 1983; Grenard, 1994; Stocker, 1998). Furthermore, the ever-increasing interest of biomedical research and the quest for new drugs has also driven the demand for venom and venom components. The business of venom extraction from snakes is a small and somewhat obscure, albeit important industry. In addition, the hazards of housing and maintaining colonies of venomous snakes and in particular the process of venom extraction are inherently dangerous. Interestingly, there is associated with the industry what could be described as a veil of confidentiality and at the same time there is an intense curiosity about it. There is a moderate amount of published information concerning some of the basic fundamentals and procedures associated with venom production facilities. Earlier literature includes information on establishing, housing, and breeding snake colonies and the extraction and processing of venom (Russell and Scharffenberg, 1964*; Ashley and Burchfield, 1968; Klauber, 1972*; Brown, 1973; Latifi, 1978*; Minton and Minton, 1980; Leloup, 1984; Phelps, 1989; Roze, 1996; * and references therein). However, the majority of this information is somewhat dated and limited in scope, and none of the literature addresses the venom extraction industry as a group. The rationale of this survey is to establish baseline data with regard to the number, distribution, years in operation, and ownership (private or government) of facilities, the number of facilities that are open to the public for display of animals or educational programs, the number of snakes and species maintained, the prevalence of captive breeding programs, the venom extraction frequency of the animals, and the occupational hazards in terms of employee envenomation frequency and mortality.