This former Dayton man, who said one of these reptiles has already put him in a coma once, has been doing this work for decades in the name of research and education.
Harrison became interested in snakes at the young age of 6. His father, a Wayne local school teacher, gave him a book about reptiles and as they say, the rest was history.
In his 20’s, Harrison had a brief career in law enforcement. He worked for three years for Huber Heights Police department before a car accident forced him into medical retirement. He recalls at least one brush with a snake during his time on the force when he was called to a home on Old Riverside Drive to capture a cobra that was loose in someone’s garage.
Harrison now resides in Kentucky where he has built The Kentucky Reptile Zoo.
The zoo is one out of four venom labs in the United States and houses over 2,000 venomous snakes with 100 different species.
“I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t important,” Harrison states, “My main goal is to save lives.”
Here are some things you might not have known about snakes and venom:
A test for lupus
Snake venom is used in conjunction with other lupus anticoagulant tests to reveal if someone has the disease.
Two of the procedures that use snake venom are called Taipan snake venom time, TSVT, and Dilutes Russell’s viper venom time, dRVVT, according to Lupus.org.
Video courtsey of The Kentucky Reptile Zoo
Snake bites death are extremely rare
There is a better chance to die from being bitten by a dog than a snake.
There are on average six snake bite related deaths compared to 21 dog bite/attack related deaths per year, according to the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida.
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