Cobras, vipers, other deadly snakes found in SC home. Why did authorities leave them?
Snakes with needle sharp fangs and deadly venom lay inside a Sumter County home when government wildlife agents arrived in late March to arrest a suspected black market reptile dealer.
Coiled in plastic containers and cages, the venomous serpents presented a threat that, if the agents weren’t careful, could expose the officers to deadly bites as they tried to secure the house near Dalzell.
But after arresting the suspect and taking him to jail, state authorities made a decision that many people might find surprising: they left the snakes in the home, despite the relative danger venomous reptiles can pose to the public, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
“We would have liked to have confiscated them and at least gotten them to a safe place, where we could figure out what to do with them, instead of just leaving them there,’’ said Jamie Landrum, the DNR’s lieutenant colonel for law enforcement. “We couldn’t do that.’’
South Carolina law doesn’t allow the DNR — the state’s wildlife enforcement agency— to confiscate venomous exotic reptiles like the ones found in Dalzell two months ago.
Unlike surrounding states, it’s legal to buy, sell or own venomous reptiles with virtually no restrictions in South Carolina — an allowance that makes the Palmetto State attractive to unsavory wildlife traders involved in the multi-billion dollar worldwide black market.
And because the state law is weak, it was not possible for federal agents who made the March arrest to seize the venomous snakes in Sumter County, state authorities said.
That left wildlife officers with little choice but to walk away from the house, they said.
Snakes inside the house included king cobras, bush vipers and rhino vipers, none of which are native to the United States, Landrum said.
King cobras, which are from India and southeast Asia, have venom so powerful it can kill an elephant, according to National Geographic.. People can die within hours of exposure to a cobra’s venom. The venom of vipers can kill in a matter of days. The types of vipers found in Dalzell are native to Africa.
Wildlife agents also found other animals at the home, including dozens of turtles and non-venomous snakes, as well as a small pig and rats that snakes prey on, Landrum said. The pig was being kept in a bathtub inside the home.
The agency didn’t say how many reptiles were in the house, but Landrum said every room contained animals, except for one. Animals also were being kept in the garage, he said.
“When you had that many reptiles, the smell of it was overwhelming,’’ Landrum said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined comment. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson also declined to comment on the Dalzell case, but said efforts are usually made to secure dangerous animals.
Winston Holliday, an assistant U.S. attorney in Columbia who has prosecuted numerous black market wildlife cases, said the absence of a state law banning non-native venomous snakes makes it harder for federal agents to seize the snakes when making arrests in South Carolina.
Generally, the federal Lacey wildlife trafficking law allows suspected black market traders to be arrested for moving animals across state lines. But in certain circumstances, the law doesn’t allow federal agents to seize animals that are legal in a state like South Carolina, Holliday said. The law prohibits interstate transport if the wildlife was illegal under state laws, a federal news release says.
“I can prosecute wildlife trafficking through the federal Lacey Act, but that act has a provision that relies on state law for the underlying offense,’’ Holliday said. “As a result, expansion of wildlife protection at the state level broadens what I can do in the federal courts as well.’’
In some cases, local authorities may be able to confiscate venomous snakes because they have their own ordinances. But many counties and cities do not have such laws, leaving the federal government to lead many wildlife smuggling probes.
Among the local governments without venomous snake laws are Lexington County, where a traveling reptile show periodically sells venomous snakes, and Sumter County, where the cobras and vipers were found in early March.
Wildlife smuggling is a major international issue that law enforcement agencies struggle to get a handle on. It is fueled by the prospect of substantial profits for black market traders, who often buy and sell animals over the internet.
Not only are animals cruelly packaged in small boxes or mistreated, but non-native wildlife can threaten people and upset the balance of nature if they escape confinement.
Where did the snakes go?
It was unknown whether the venomous snakes DNR officials found during the March arrest are still in the Dalzell home. But the serpents are believed to be in the possession of an acquaintance of the man arrested in late March.
On Friday, two trucks were in the driveway of the house where the March arrest occurred. No one answered when a reporter with The State knocked on the door.
While DNR officials declined comment on the snakes’ whereabouts, they said one thing is for sure: The house where the arrest was made is one of the last places many people would have expected to find such a collection.
Just a few miles from Shaw Air Force Base, the rented brick house lies in a neat, middle-income neighborhood with grassy lawns, cul-de-sacs and quiet streets.
On a recent afternoon, children frolicked in their yards, pulling wagons and playing with stuffed toys, several homes away from the house where the deadly snakes were found — and left — in March.
Some neighbors, who said they were fearful of having their names used, said they had noticed multiple package deliveries to the house in the past year, sometimes boxes with holes punched in the side.
One neighbor said he saw cages full of snakes in the garage one day last year and spoke with a man who was cleaning them out. Another neighbor said she found an unusual turtle in the street and told the people who were at the house where the arrest occurred.
“They just put it in the garage,’’ she said.
Neighbors interviewed by The State said law enforcement officials had patrolled the neighborhood regularly since the March arrest.
The suspect who was arrested in March, Ashtyn Rance, remains in jail. A convicted felon who has served time in prison, he has been the subject of wildlife investigations in Florida and Georgia through the years.
More recently, authorities say he called Dalzell his home. Sumter County property records show he did not own the home where the arrest was made. Landrum said Rance was renting the house.
Rance, 35, is awaiting a court date, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Georgia.
On March 9, a federal grand jury in Georgia charged him with violating wildlife trafficking and gun laws. He faces charges that he illegally shipped turtles and venomous snakes from Georgia to Florida in packages that were falsely labeled.
It wasn’t the first time he’s been involved in shipping deadly snakes.
In 2018, The State newspaper found that Rance had legally imported 220 highly venomous snakes from Africa to Atlanta, but Georgia laws prevented him from keeping the serpents there for more than 24 hours. He then hauled some of the snakes to South Carolina, where it is legal to own them, so that they could be sold, authorities said.
Rance, who spoke with The State in 2018, said he had tried to do the right thing but was being harassed by authorities and was contemplating getting out of the reptile trading business. An attorney court records show represents Rance could not be reached late this past week.
Rance’s troubles were highlighted in The State’s investigative series of the black market wildlife trade. The State reported that lax laws and limited personnel were making South Carolina a popular spot for black market reptile traders. At the time, South Carolina was having problems with both the sale and export of native turtles to Asia, as well as the import of non-native venomous snakes.
After the newspaper’s investigation, the Legislature tightened the law to make it harder to own native turtles legally with the intention of selling them illegally later on the black market. That law allowed the DNR to file state charges in March against Rance and confiscate turtles from the home in Dalzell, wildlife officials said.
But the 2020 legislation was not clear about venomous, non-native snakes, which are more dangerous than turtles.
Now, after learning of the Dalzell case from the DNR, state legislators have again moved to change the law, this time to ban the ownership and sale of non-native venomous snakes.
It’s an effort the DNR says would help wildlife officers make charges and confiscate dangerous snakes involved in the black market reptile trade.
““We certainly don’t want to become the snake-importing state of the world,’’ said state Rep. Davey Hiott, a Pickens County Republican who supports a ban on non-native, venomous reptiles. “What happens if they get loose? What happens if people get tired of taking care of them and just turn them loose?’’
In they escaped, venomous exotic snakes could breed and expand in South Carolina, threatening native wildlife and people, legislators said.
Days before the Legislative session ended, the House voted 106-2 to ban the future ownership of venomous, non-native reptiles.
People who already own deadly foreign snakes would be required to register the animals with the DNR by Sept. 1. They would be allowed to keep the animals until the snakes die, after which people could not own exotic venomous snakes, said Hiott, chairman of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.
Penalties for owning a non-native, venomous snake would range from $500 and/or 30 days in prison to $5,000 and/or five years in prison, for each offense, depending on the number of the reptiles a person owns.
The bill provides exceptions for zoos and educational endeavors, and it does not apply to people who own native venomous snakes, such as copperheads and rattlesnakes.
But it would apply to non-native venomous snake sales at traveling wildlife shows, such as the Repticon event held periodically in the Columbia area, legislators told the newspaper.
On the last day of this year’s regular legislative session, however, the Senate refused to sign off on the bill after snake lovers from across the country bombarded lawmakers with emails protesting it.
It remains unclear if a legislative conference committee — a panel established to work out differences between the two chambers — will take action on the ban this summer or if the bill will remain stalled until next year’s legislative session.
Like Republican Hiott, Rep. Roger Kirby, D-Florence, and Sen. Thomas McElveen, D-Sumter, said the legislature needs to address the lack of oversight of exotic venomous snakes.
Because South Carolina is one of the few places with no restrictions on non-native venomous snakes, wildlife traders continue to use the state as a staging area for the worldwide black market reptile trade, state officials say.
“South Carolina has become an oasis for these bad actors and folks who are doing things they shouldn’t be doing because our laws are so lax,’’ McElveen said.
Angry snake lovers
The DNR’s effort to tighten the law so it can seize venomous, non-native snakes has drawn a crescendo of opposition from reptile lovers across the country.
They’re upset that the state would take away the right to own a toxic serpent and that the bill was put together hurriedly near the end of the Legislative session, with little public input. Many people earn their living from venomous snakes, supplying venom for use in medicine, say opponents of the ban.
Lawmakers said they were receiving dozens of emails daily from irate snake lovers who said they have a constitutional right to own a venomous snake. Some said legitimate business people would be affected, as opposed only to black market wildlife dealers.
“Passing this bill, and frankly, simply introducing it, would be the most unconstitutional and overreaching government action I have ever witnessed,’’ according to an email sent to Kirby’s office.
The email, which identifies the sender as a Texas man is among almost identical correspondence Kirby said he received about the snake bill from other parts of the country.
Some of the correspondence contained the same language, saying,for instance, that “my rights have been violated.’’
In the past month, reptile owners who learned about the bill have staged protests on the State House grounds.
One sign carried by a protester said bills to ban toxic snakes are “proving dirty politicians are more dangerous than venomous reptiles.’’ Another sign said the bill “turns law abiding citizens into criminals.’’
A group called the United States Association of Reptile Keepers, or USARK, has rallied opposition to the bill, providing talking points for people to argue against the legislation, its website shows. The group is a national organization dedicated to “the responsible private ownership of, and trade in reptiles and amphibians,’’ according to its website.
Steve Bennett, a reptile biologist who formerly worked with the state DNR, said he doesn’t like the bill because it includes an outright ban that would affect law-abiding snake owners. Many people who own venomous, non-native snakes are not criminals involved in the black market wildlife trade, he said.
“What law enforcement did was jump in and say stop everything,’’ Bennett said of the DNR-backed legislation. “That’s a lazy way out. It doesn’t take into consideration legitimate institutions and legitimate hobby people.’’
“I’m not saying we don’t need to have regulations. We do. But this was not thought out.’’
Instead of banning venomous snakes, the state might consider requiring venomous snake enthusiasts to register the reptiles, as is the case in other states, opponents say.
Duncan resident Casey Ballew Dust, who breeds rats for sale as snake food, as well as non-venomous snakes, said the legislation “was very rushed. They did not give us a chance to comment. ‘’
She also said that “We are not Ashtyn Rance. I feel like I’m in school. One talkative kid gets the whole class in trouble.’’
Even so, South Carolina needs to get a handle on the trade in foreign venomous snakes, some state officials say. The lack of a state law hurts the state’s ability to police rogue wildlife traffickers — and to confiscate venomous foreign serpents that threaten the public and native wildlife, they say.
“Even though this is legal, it’s extremely dangerous,’’ the DNR’s Landrum said.
This story was originally published May 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
