Police find over 150 snakes in basement of Newburgh home

Tuesday, June 4, 2019
NEWBURGH, New York (WABC) -- Police discovered over 150 snakes in the basement of a home in Orange County Tuesday after learning that the man who lives there had been bitten by a poisonous snake.

Department of Environmental Conservation Police Officers and members of the Bureau of Environmental Crimes Investigation unit executed a search warrant at a home on Maple Street in Newburgh after being alerted about the snake bite by Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
[Ads /]
The man was treated at the hospital Sunday after being bitten by a venomous Asian pit viper he owned. He received five doses of anti-venom and was released on Monday.

157 snakes were then found in the basement of his home. The man did not have a license to possess any of the snakes, authorities 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.
[Ads /]
A team of experts from the Bronx Zoo assisted with the retrieval of the snakes and they are now in quarantine at the zoo, pending the outcome of the case.

----------
* More Northern Suburbs news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube
Copyright © 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.