SNAKECHARMER

Dossier

Selected engagements.
Redacted as appropriate.

The following summaries describe completed work at a level consistent with client confidentiality. Names, locations, and dates have been generalized. Each entry was cleared by the retaining party before publication.

CASE 24-07

Captive Engineering

Post-incident audit of an elapid range

A regional zoological park retained the practice following a near-miss during a routine cleaning shift. Audit identified a gasket tolerance drift of 3 mm on four of eleven enclosures, traced to a change in the adhesive used by a sub-contracted fabricator. Corrective work was specified within twenty-eight days, including a shift-level rehearsal of the revised lockout procedure.

Outcome: Collection returned to full rotation. No incidents in the twenty-two months since.

CASE 23-12

Protocol Drafting

Envenomation response for a venom laboratory

A university toxinology group preparing to expand its live-collection program retained the practice to draft its bite response document in coordination with the attending hospital's emergency department. The document included a species-by-species first-twelve-minutes checklist and a transit plan validated against two rehearsal scenarios staged on-site.

Outcome: Protocol adopted as annex to the facility's biosafety manual. Annual review retained.

CASE 22-03

Field Response

Removal of a naturalized python population

An agricultural cooperative in a subtropical drainage retained the practice after seasonal surveys confirmed reproduction of an escaped ornamental constrictor lineage on managed land. Work was conducted with two field associates over six weeks and produced a translocation and humane-disposition ledger subsequently reviewed by the state wildlife agency.

Outcome: Thirty-one specimens removed. Habitat modification plan delivered and partially implemented.

CASE 21-19

Expert Witness

Standard-of-care dispute, private collection

Retained by defense counsel in a civil matter concerning a private keeper's handling of a large crotalid. Prepared written opinion and deposition testimony addressing industry-standard containment, transport, and shift protocol. Scope was limited to husbandry practice; we did not opine on medical causation.

Outcome: Matter resolved prior to trial. Report remains under protective order.

CASE 20-11

Film / Live-Animal Unit

On-set safety coverage, feature production

Retained by a feature production with two scheduled scenes involving a trained Naja and one scene involving a large native crotalid. Deliverables included a pre-production risk register, rehearsal supervision at the handler's facility, day-of set protocol with a nurse-medic standing at camera rear, and a stand-down authority vested in the principal. One scene was rewritten at our request to eliminate an unacceptable staging geometry between talent and animal.

Outcome: Eleven shooting days, no incidents. Standing relationship with the production's safety coordinator maintained.

CASE 19-04

Regulatory

Import-compliance audit, research facility

A private biomedical research group importing Bothrops stock under federal permit retained the practice to audit documentation against Lacey Act and state injurious-species statute in two jurisdictions. The audit identified a chain-of-custody gap in the inbound manifest and recommended a revised receiving-dock protocol. We did not represent the client in any subsequent administrative matter.

Outcome: Gap closed prior to the following shipment. No enforcement action initiated.

NOTE 20-02

Published Note

On the two-person rule in small collections

A short position paper, circulated to cooperating institutions, arguing that the two-person rule should apply to routine feed and water changes on all front-fanged collections regardless of collection size. The paper documents three escape incidents in which the absence of a second person was not causal but extended the time-to-containment by more than a factor of four.

Status: Cited in two subsequent accreditation reviews.