Even if you’re lucky enough to have been introduced to Paul Rowley, it’s unlikely you’ll know much about his work. Despite having one of the most important, dangerous and specialist jobs in the world of herpetology, Paul has never been one to boast about his achievements. We managed to pin him down and extract what we needed for this piece. Don’t worry. It was all done humanely and in the name of science.

You’ve worked at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine since 1993. What does LSTM do?
The School studies and works to combat all kinds of diseases and illnesses worldwide, from malaria and HIV to most of the other tropical diseases and illnesses you might think of – of course, including snakebite.

The centre started 55 years ago as the Alastair Reid Venom Research Unit, changing its name recently to become the Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions. That might sound a bit like we swoop in like superheroes to save people from being bitten, but ‘intervention’ actually refers to education, bite prevention and treatment. Prevention and treatment is a big part of what we do, and nowadays that extends across a much wider remit than you might initially imagine.

We’re working to improve antivenoms and their efficiency, as well as making them cheaper, more easily available and more effective across different regions and species. Most of those who die or are severely affected by snakebite suffer because they don’t seek treatment, can’t afford treatment or it isn’t available. Other times it is because they misidentify the species concerned.

We’re also working to help victims as they recover from treatment and continue with their lives. We aim to help with long-term recovery and even with posttraumatic stress disorder and the social stigmas that can occur after someone is bitten. It’s much more than just producing antivenom.

We’re currently doing lots of work in Kenya and Nigeria with the intention of producing specific antivenom in these countries. We’re aiming to improve the old-fashioned methods of production that are currently still being used so that the end product is more effective, safe and cheaper. For instance, installing modern freeze-drying facilities goes a long way to making sure the venom is preserved and stored well. This, along with other improvements, can make the difference between life and death for people in these countries.

What is your job? What does it entail on a daily basis?
It’s my job to maintain our venomous snakes and then to collect and catalogue venom. The team here are involved with sourcing specific animals and then I quarantine them, maintain them and, predictably, milk venom from them when required – which happens on average, once every six weeks for any given specimen. From there it’s my responsibility to catalogue and store the venom effectively before making sure it gets to the people who need to use the venom for their work – usually researchers and students at LSTM, but we also collaborate with other organisations, groups and institutions worldwide.

For larger animals we can collect one sample of venom from each individual animal, using a single collection pot for each specimen. For smaller species, such as Saw Scaled Vipers, we might milk between 3 – 6 individuals into the same pot to collect a sample. From there the venom is catalogued and freeze-dried quickly in order to limit how much it denatures. Your job is one of the most interesting  in the world of herpetology.

How did you land the role?
I was essentially head-hunted, but I suppose I should start at the beginning. I’m a third-generation zookeeper – both my grandmother and my father were zookeepers and I’d followed my dad into a job at Chester Zoo as soon as I left school in 1979. He was a birdkeeper there at the time, but my family had kept reptiles since before I was born. I had a Garter Snake when I was six and moved from there straight to keeping Reticulated Pythons. I’d always been fascinated with reptiles and knew from the age of six that I wanted to work with venomous snakes when I grew up, so I got a job in the reptile house after doing some time working on the bird section and then in the aquarium. I was there for 14 years before being made redundant, along with 20 other keepers.

After I lost my job at the zoo I floated around for several months doing not much in particular, until my old boss called me and asked that I apply for a position at LSTM. There were two other applicants – a marine biologist and a former pet-shop assistant, so I guess I was the best candidate. I’ve been here for 26 years now and I guess I’ll be here for as long as they need me. It’s been hit and miss over the years and there have been times when we were worried the funding would run out and the centre would be closed.

For many years I worked alone within the LSTM Herpetarium, apart from when needing help with venom extractions. However, the last few years have seen us expand a lot. We currently have around 20 people in our department and, if you include those employed to work in our collaborative projects in Africa and India, the number would total around 80 people. I now also have my own full-time herpetological assistant, which is quite a luxury.

What species do you keep at the Centre and how many?
As you might expect, we’ve kept all sorts. You name it, we’ve probably had it here. Saw Scaled Vipers are a constant and we currently have five different species and about 50+ specimens of Echis. We also have Boomslangs, Eyelash Vipers, four species of Mamba, 14 different Cobra species and several different Rattlesnakes. We also have Rhino Vipers, Puff Adders, Gaboon Vipers and Desert Horned Vipers. Oh, and we have some Mangroves and False Water Cobras too. At the moment our headcount is relatively low as we only have around 200 or so animals of some 56 species on site, but the number varies and we’ll sometimes have up to 600.

Which animals in your collection are the most difficult to work with?
I can’t say that any are a real worry as we have the skills to handle pretty much anything, but we do have a couple which seem to be more hassle than most. Jameson’s Mambas Dendroaspis jamesoni always seem to give us the runaround, and we have a Forest Cobra from Ghana which is pure evil. Interestingly, the Cameroonian Forest Cobra is as nice as could be.

Stuff like Gaboons, Desert Horned Vipers, Saw Scaled Vipers and most other Cobras are pretty standard. I shouldn’t say they’re easy because all venomous snakes should be handled with care. Like I said before, it’s underestimating the danger that often gets people bitten.

Have you ever been bitten?
Yes, hospitalised three times unfortunately. I’ve never been bitten while doing an extraction, only while doing routine maintenance and feeding. Two of the bites were from the same species, a Neotropical Rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus. These happened in 1993 and 1996. On both occasions the pain was bearable and I’ve suffered no ongoing issues apart from a bit of poor circulation in those digits. I did suffer a bit of ‘serum sickness’ about a week after taking the antivenom, which manifested itself as lumpy blotches resembling marshmallows on my legs. My boss asked me go to the hospital, but made me promise to visit the medical photography department on the way.

The last bite was 17 years ago and was by a baby Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Crotalus atrox. It was my own fault really. I had wet hands and I slipped with the lid of the container in which we were housing the snake. I trapped the snake’s body and it turned and bit me. I rehoused the snake, told my boss about the incident and got as far as the door before the pain kicked in. This time the pain was significant, to say the least. It was like putting your arm in boiling oil.

We had to use out of date antivenom because some guy in Ireland had been bitten by his rattler three times in the course of 18 months and our stocks at our designated hospital were running low. Remarkably, there’s no tissue damage and there’s no sign of any other issues as a consequence of the bite.

I understand you only use wild-caught animals. Why is that?
It’s essentially a question of provenance. It’s often difficult to accurately and reliably establish where a captive bred snake originates from. Often they’re also bred from stock which could come from different localities.

By comparison, if we have a wild snake we can know for sure where it comes from and that this is the type of snake which is biting people in that particular locale. Working with wild-caught animal doesn’t present any particular difficulties, although there are some considerations which pet keepers might not need to worry about. We also quarantine for nematodes, worms and ticks, but once that’s done they usually calm down and settle in nicely. We have venomous snakes which have been with us for 15 years and others that have lived longer. To be honest, the animals we have at the centre probably live longer than they would in the wild. Out there they can’t often catch food when they’re old and frail, but here they keep getting fed and looked after long into their old age.

What advice would you give to venomous snake handlers?
Oh, that’s such a difficult one to answer. There’s no universally applicable advice or tips that would be useful to everyone and every species in every circumstance. So much of what a good handler knows has come from experience and understanding the animals and what could potentially happen. I’m fortunate to have tens of thousands of hours of handling experience so much of it comes as second nature to me now. I guess the most useful tip would be to make sure you’re aware of your environment. How far can you step back? Is there a crevice somewhere the snake might be able to disappear into? What are the other people in the vicinity doing? These are the kind of things that could trip up even the most experienced handler.

Another important consideration is to understand that not all specimens of any given species are alike. Your experience of handling one specimen might be almost useless when you handle a different animal. An animal you don’t know will surprise you. I suppose that could be said for the same animal on different days though. It’s not a good idea to think you have the measure of any venomous animal and you should always be on your guard and ready for the unexpected. This is why I’m not at all a fan of free-handling.

We very rarely use tongs and rely almost completely on hooks. Tongs are more suitable for work in the wild where you have one chance to capture the animal before it disappears up a tree or down a hole. In captivity we will generally have a better, more manageable environment to work in.

One of the big conversations in the world of venomous keeping is the use of ‘zero handling’ techniques, where the keeper will use trap boxes and electrical stimulation in order to milk the snakes. I strongly believe that having the animals accustomed to being handled is an important part of making the experience safe for both the venomous snakes and the handler. For us here at the Centre, the need to handle the snakes is a daily occurrence and so it makes sense for us to keep our skills sharp. Surprises and shocks are kept to a minimum if both the handler and the snake are accustomed to the procedure.

What’s your thoughts on hobbyists keeping venomous snakes?
That’s a complex topic. That said, there are certainly those who I feel have the wrong attitude. Venomous keeping isn’t the Formula 1 style pinnacle of snake keeping, and it shouldn’t be viewed as such. Keeping venomous is a huge responsibility in many ways. Finding a vet is difficult to say the least, and even those vets who will treat venomous are particular about which keepers they will work with. Finding someone to look after your animals while you are on holiday is also difficult. It’s not like you can take them to your local pet shop or ask your mum to sort it out. Unless of course your mum is a specialist venomous vet, and then you’re good to go.

What should I do if I get bitten by a venomous snake?
First rule of handling venomous snakes is don’t get bitten. But if you do get tagged you should call for an ambulance to get to your nearest hospital immediately. I occasionally get calls from people who have been bitten, but there’s little more I can do apart from offer support because I’m not a medic and have no skills, training or facilities which could be helpful. Go to hospital! I appreciate that there is a concern that hospitals won’t know what to do and may administer suboptimal care. There’s plenty of horror stories from all over the world about doctors cutting people open or administering treatments which could do more harm than good.

That’s why I’d recommend you ask that they contact the Public Health England and the National Poisons Unit, who in turn will put the hospital consultant in contact with one of our specialist clinicians who will ensure they employ the correct protocols. If you keep venomous, my advice would be to make contact with your local hospital as soon as you start keeping venomous species. That way you can build a relationship with them and they will know what to expect if you came in. Triage is vital and they’re more likely to be prepared if they know who you are and what you keep.

Fast hands
During our interview we asked Paul how many snakes he would typically milk in an average day. “I dunno, it varies depending on what is needed. We can do a rack of 50 Saw Scaled Vipers in about an hour.” he replied. It took a few seconds for it to sink in before we realised how astonishing that achievement is. Apparently milking Mambas “might take a little longer.”

The world’s deadliest snake?
Most venomous experts believe that Saw Scaled Vipers Echis sp. are the most dangerous venomous snake in the world, earning the reputation because of their hemotoxic and cytotoxic venom, their proclivity to bite and the proximity of this species to human-inhabited environments. While some snakes are more venomous and others can inject larger doses of venom, none is more likely to bite and have such deadly consequences. They are believed to be responsible for more human snakebite deaths than any other species. That’s how Saw Scaled Vipers earn their place at the top of the list of most dangerous snakes in the world.

In their extensive native range which includes large parts of Africa, India and Asia, the Saw Scaled Viper bites thousands of people each year, usually agricultural workers or villagers in rural areas. When bitten many are reluctant to tell doctors that the snake was small and brown, believing such an unimpressive account would mean they might be denied treatment. Instead the victim often describes an enormous black snake, such as might be identified as a mamba or cobra. This can lead to them being given the wrong treatment and antivenom, thereby vastly increasing the likelihood that they could die.

Saw-Scaled stowaways
Two of the Saw Scaled Vipers at LSTM came into the UK as stowaways from India in consignments of stone to be used to lay driveways. They arrived separately, but in both cases the snakes were captured by the householder and kept secure until they could be collected. One lady used barbecue tongs to collect the snake before placing it in a Tupperware pot. These snakes are invaluable to the LSTM collection as sourcing this species directly from India is fraught with difficulty and bureaucracy.