| I love it when people begin debating about snakes.
The discussion always seems to focus on venomous serpents but it is my
observation that a person either likes or dislikes snakes--PERIOD. When
pressed, most will admit the presence or absence of venom is merely icing
on the cake. This is the pivotal issue in a current debate which has put
confronted the animal rights folks with some scientific data placing them
squarely on the horns of a political correctness dilemma. |
| There are several species of cobra which
live in southeast Asia. A particularly nasty one is called the Thai Cobra.
The Thai Cobra is responsible for several hundred deaths annually. The
absolute number of bites is unknown for many native people treat all snake
bites the same, with smoke purification, and it is hard to determine which
species was responsible. |
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| The large King Cobra has been listed as
an endangered species. It was always fairly rare and there was a large
trade in the animals for zoos and museums. Early taxonomies grouped all the
southeast Asian cobras under a single species with the varieties listed as
subspecies. As such, ALL cobras were listed under the Endangered Species
Act. Recently, however, further scientific study has found several of the
cobras to be entirely separate species. This would have removed them from
the protection of the Endangered Species Act. |
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In the case of the Thai Cobra, this would
have made sense. It is not endangered in any sense of the word. Its numbers
are high and probably increasing, if the number of bites in recent years is
any indication. The animal rights factions, however, lobbied hard to
continue the blanket protection arguing that another species might be
mistaken for the Thai Cobra in the trade. As a practical matter, this is
extremely unlikely since the Thai Cobra is very easily distinguishable from
other species. |
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| This blanket protection of cobras covers
all products. This made it difficult to produce antivenin since there were
significant hurdles to the production and sale of venom. This did not get
much attention because the people most likely to be harmed by a lack of
available antivenin were the subsistence farmers living in the jungles and
swamps of southeast Asia. This was not a group likely to speak for
themselves in the debate over the course of the ESA. |
| This changed somewhat recently, when
another group had reason to take interest in the Thai Cobra. Researchers in
Australia have discovered a compound found only in the venom of the Thai
Cobra which is a powerful immunosuppressant. This instantly generated
interest around the world for two reasons. First, it promises to be
extremely effective in keeping the body from rejecting transplanted organs.
Secondly, it has an even more effective use in research and treatment of
AIDS. There is suddenly a great clamor for the venom factor but, with the
labyrinth of endangered species regulations, it cannot be produced and
distributed commercially. |
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This has reportedly caused
quite a problem for the publicists of some celebrities. Caught between
support for AIDS research and support for an animal rights or “environmentalist”
agenda, they just cannot decide which path provides the most favorable
public image. It will be interesting to see how the animal rights industry
reacts when it has “political correctness” problems. 
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