[11:11 PM CDT, July 11, 2008
FRANKFORT, Ky. - The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.
More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting ...
Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder.
Handling snakes is practiced in a handful of fundamentalist churches across Appalachia, based on the interpretation of Bible verses saying true believers can take up serpents without being harmed. The practice is illegal in most states, including Kentucky.
Coots, 36, is pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, where a Tennessee woman died after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a service in 1995. Her husband died three years later when he was bitten by a snake in northeastern Alabama.
Coots was charged Thursday with buying, selling and possessing illegal reptiles...
"You can purchase anything off the Internet except common sense," [Jim, director of Kentucky Reptile Zoo] Harrison said. "A venomous snake isn't a pet. You don't play with it. If you do, you're an idiot."]
(emphasis added 'cause guy had 42 copperhead snakes for St. Pat's sake.)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-snake-bust,0,3002359.story
No comments:
Post a Comment