157 Pet Snakes Found In Basement

NEWBURGH, NY — The Bronx Zoo is caring for 157 snakes found last week in the basement of a house in Newburgh. It all started because a man went to the hospital to be treated for snakebite.

The man reported being bitten by an Asian pit viper when he went to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx June 2. He received five doses of antivenom and was released June 3.

On June 4, Environmental Conservation Police Officers and members of the Bureau of Environmental Crimes Investigation unit executed a search warrant at his home. They discovered a basement full of snakes.

The man did not have a license to possess any of the 157 reptiles, DEC officials said.

Venomous snakes are illegal to possess in the state of New York without a license and are only licensed for educational or exhibition purposes.

Pit vipers, for example, are among the most dangerous snakes in the world, according to ReptileKnowledge.com. They have thermoreceptors to detect prey by differences in temperature.

Bronx Zoo staff helped ECOs inventory and remove all the snakes from the home.

The case remains under investigation.