“What if one had gotten loose and one the kids was bitten.”įinch was found by a neighbor, Kerry Bittner, about 8:30 p.m. “With the number of children that are around in the area it’s surprising that these type of pets can be kept in a residential area,” he said. One neighbor said he was surprised to learn the victim’s death may have been due to a snake bite. I’m surprised this didn’t happen years ago.” Schatt said Finch never used snake sticks to handle her reptiles. I told her many times, it’s deadly.”Ī bite by one of the vipers is usually fatal within two to four hours, he added. “But the minute I found out about it, I told her to get rid of it. “I’m not sure if she traded for it, paid for it or it was given to her,” Schatt said. Two months ago she brought home a Gaboon viper from Texas. This past year, he said, she began acquiring more exotic-and dangerous-serpents. “She would take them home to try to keep them alive.” “If she saw one that was run over by a car, she freaked out,” Schatt said. He said she grew very protective of the animals. Schatt said Finch studied geology in college but became interested in reptiles 15 years ago and began collecting them, especially rattlesnakes. Steve Schatt, vice president of the Los Angeles-based Southwestern Herpetologists Society, has known Finch for 10 years and said his friend had been bitten at least six times by her rattlesnakes. “She thought she was immune to the venom at this point in her life,” said Finch’s sister, Karin Taylor. “They are illegal in the state of California.”Īcquaintances said Finch would often handle the snakes by hand, a practice that experts say is unsafe. “I know of no instance where an official with the state Department of Fish and Game, which would regulate this activity, would issue a permit to allow these types of venomous snakes,” Knapp said. “She was really an expert in snake-handling,” said Finch’s mother, Tania Johnston, who lives in Camarillo.ĭan Knapp, general manager of the city Department of Animal Services, said keeping poisonous snakes is generally against the law.
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