When the snakes get out

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Venomous reptiles for sale, and the South Carolina bill that’s trying to stop it.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: South Carolina is one of five states with no restrictions on owning exotic reptiles. But lawmakers are debating a piece of legislation that might change that.

Here’s WORLD’s Mary Muncy.

SHARPE: They're for viewing purposes. They’re my pets, you know?

MARY MUNCY: Jackson Sharpe points at his collection of venomous vipers. As owner of R3N3GAD3 REPTILES in Westminster, South Carolina, Sharpe sells exotic lizards, frogs, and, of course, snakes.

HARPE: Today we’re producing a great number of animals right here at Renegade Reptiles.

Ninety-six plastic bins line a wall of shelves, each one containing a designer python.

Baby vipers, cobras, and rattlesnakes lay coiled up in plastic bins nearby.

Past the screaming gecko and the poison dart frog priced at a hundred dollars, Sharpe points to his favorite, a Mangshan Pit Viper.

SHARPE: There are pairs in every single tank besides the Mangshan Viper, which I don’t plan on breeding.

There’s no antivenom treatment available for this Chinese mountain snake.

According to international and federal law, transporting exotic reptiles across borders is prohibited. But once they reach South Carolina, they can be kept and sold with no regulations. Sharpe told World Journalism Institute Young Professionals graduate Stacey Horton that he wants to keep it that way. Sharpe used to live in Georgia before deciding the reptile laws established in 1994 were too restrictive for his business.

SHARPE: Georgia stripped freedoms from individuals and in return it hinders them from following their passions, dreams, and careers…there’s so much stuff that’s like you run into brick walls.

Now, lawmakers in South Carolina want to pass a similar law.

FORREST: I think there’s a lot of unknowns, because I’d be one of those people that have never held a snake in my life and I have no intentions of doing so.

State Representative Cal Forrest testified at a hearing back in March in support of a bill drafted by one of his colleagues. The Venomous Reptiles Act would effectively ban the private possession of exotic and venomous reptiles. Current owners would apply for a license. All future ownership would be limited to qualified institutions, such as zoos, medical research facilities, or educational institutions.

During the hearing, 25 people spoke out against the proposed law…including store owner Jackson Sharpe. Representative Forrest commented on their concerns.

FORREST: It’s hard for us to understand but I’m trying to put myself in your spot and understand everything everybody said here today from this podium.

While lawmakers go back to the drawing board with their constituents, South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources is pushing for clarity on the issue.

DILLMAN: This is generally a thing the public is not aware that's occurring.

That’s Will Dillman. He helps lead the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division for the state. Dillman focuses on the regulatory and enforcement aspects of the reptile policy.

DILLMAN: On the side of law enforcement, there's generally a concern for people that are going into homes and areas coming into contact with venomous snakes that they're not prepared to come into contact with.

Animal science experts also have concerns. Jeffrey French from North Greenville University is a conservation and wildlife management expert. An avid reptile enthusiast with two snakes of his own, French says accidents happen.

JEFFREY FRENCH: If I'm going to make an oops with a non-venomous snake that is not even trying to be aggressive, how long can you keep a venomous snake without making a mistake?

Accidents aren’t just hypothetical. The Palmetto Poison Center reports between 240 and 270 snake bites a year. Just last September, a popular venomous snake-handler YouTuber from Florence, South Carolina, posted a video holding a baby inland taipan. That’s the most venomous land snake on the planet.

LIEBOWITZ: I’m almost in a good position. He knows I’m almost there.

With bare hands, Jeffrey Liebowitz demonstrated his control over the animal’s movements, saying,

LIEBOWITZ: He wants to do that, but otherwise you’re in total control.

Hours later, Liebowitz posted an appeal on Facebook, asking fellow reptile owners to send taipan antivenom to the McLeod Hospital in Florence. Local police then seized and euthanized all 14 of Liebowitz’s snakes, including one green mamba, a death adder, and the inland taipan. Liebowitz survived the snakebite and continues to post videos while building a new collection of venomous snakes.

Another problem is what happens when non-native reptiles get loose. Similar to the infestation of Burmese pythons in the Everglades, exotic reptiles threaten native wildlife in South Carolina. Professor French says,

FRENCH: The less diverse a system is, the more likely the whole system fails when an environmental change happens.

In the early 2000s, pet owners brought a breed of South American lizards to the American South. But they didn’t stay inside. By May 2021, South Carolina designated the Argentine black and white tegu as an invasive species. It can grow to the size of a Border Collie and eats the eggs of ground-laying birds. State officials want to prevent adding more reptiles to that list.

Store owner Jackson Sharpe feels the Venomous Reptiles Act goes too far.

SHARPE: What I am trying to do is live my days on this earth with as less stress as possible and enjoy my freedom without some lawless dog owner telling me that I have to accept laws for being a snake owner.

For wildlife official Dillman, keeping humans and animals safe requires setting new ground rules.

DILLMAN: We want people that are keeping any sort of pet, any animal in captivity to do that A, safely, and then B, to make sure that those animals are not able to escape into the wild.

For WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.