Man who lived with 124 snakes was found dead in his home
The autopsy revealed that the individual died of "accidental poisoning" caused by one of his snakes.
A 49-year-old man who lived in Maryland, United States, was found dead in the home he shared with more than 100 snakes kept in their respective cages.
When performing the respective autopsy, it determined that his death was caused by "accidental poisoning", generated by the bite of one of his "snake companions".
According to information offered by the local media, the Maryland Technical Service arrived at the scene after a person close to the house reported that there was something irregular in his neighbor's house, since he had called him several times and it didn't respond.
In view of this, he forced his way into the building and found him lying on the floor, visibly unconscious.
Authorities from the Charles County Sheriff's Office reported in a statement that the deceased individual was identified as David Riston, 49, and was pronounced dead at the time he was found.
They doubted that it had been one of the snakes
When the police officials arrived at Riston's house, they ruled out the idea that his death had been the result of a snake bite, since the deceased apparently knew how to take care of them and had them well locked up and "tame".
In this sense, the representative of the county of Charles, Jennifer Harris, mentioned that "nobody seemed to realize that he was harboring snakes inside the house".
The investigations of the case, after the death of Riston, showed that the snakes that the man kept in his house were exotic and therefore illegal.
Among the specimens found are: rattlesnakes, black mambas, cobras and a four meter long Burmese python.
For its part, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources asserted that the snake collector had the respective permits to possess reptiles and amphibians in captivity, but that permit does not support the possession of poisonous snakes to keep as pets.
Said restriction is to guarantee the well-being of these animals, but also of the people who want to keep them captive, and it was shown that their captivity inside houses is deadly and counterproductive.
Finally, the police officials announced that after removing David's body from his house, the local exotic animal experts proceeded to take all the snake specimens from the place.