Baby Rattlesnake Vodka

[BettaDragon]

I just saw this on Yahoo. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/od_nm/texas_rattlesnake_dc

Thu Mar 27, 11:32 AM ET

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A Texas man is facing charges for selling liquor without a license after he was found peddling bottles of vodka containing dead baby rattlesnakes.
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Bob Popplewell, who runs "Bayou Bob's Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch" tourist attraction west of Fort Worth, was believed to be selling the vodka in the Asian community, where snakes are seen having aphrodisiac properties, state authorities said.

Popplewell faces misdemeanor charges for not having a liquor license but will not be charged over the 10-inch (25-cm) baby snakes in the bottles.

"I've been with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for 20 years," Sergeant Charlie Cloud said. "This is the most bizarre thing I've been involved in."

In some of East Asia, parts of snakes and other animals are thought to have medicinal qualities and are used to make soups, powders and other preparations. In Vietnam, for example, the serpents are added to bottles of rice whisky and wine.

Authorities confiscated 411 bottles of the vodka, which Popplewell was selling for $23 each.

Popplewell, also the state's largest exporter of live turtles to Asia, declined to comment.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; editing by Anna Driver and Eileen O'Grady in Houston and John O'Callaghan)

I agree this is totally bizarre. This story irritates me for a few reasons. The first being the fact this guy killed hundreds of innocent baby snakes for a quick buck. The second one is that he used a group of people's culture against them to make money off of them. There are a few others but i will not state them as I don't know the full story.

Now I looked at this guy's site. (http://www.wf.net/~snake/index.html) I found this on the front page.

"Bayou Bob" Popplewell, with over 35 years of experience, is one of America's foremost herpetologists.

If this man is really "one of America's foremost herpetologists" would he really be killing off innocent snakes for a quick buck. I think not. I don't know the guy but from what I'm hearing, he sounds like a disgrace to our hobby.

I don't know this man. These could be false accusations. The news has put up worse fake stories to get ratings. If anyone knows the true story I'd be glad to hear it. I'm just basing my opinions on what I've read. Anybody else have opinions?

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

That is deplorable!

 

[BettaDragon]

I have another article where Popplewell said his side. I still don't like it.
http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2008/03/26/921887.html&cookieattempt=1

By Associated Press

Wed Mar 26, 10:04 PM

SANTO, Texas - A rattlesnake rancher who calls himself Bayou Bob found a new way to make money: Stick a rattler inside a bottle of vodka and market the concoction as an "ancient Asian elixir." But Bayou Bob Popplewell's bright idea appears to have landed him on the wrong side of the law, because he has no liquor license.

Popplewell, who has raised rattlesnakes and turtles at Bayou Bob's Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch for more than two decades, surrendered to authorities Monday. He spent about 10 minutes in jail after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission obtained arrest warrants on misdemeanor charges of selling alcohol without a license and possessing alcohol with intent to sell.

If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines.

Popplewell said he will fight the charges. His intent, he said, is not to sell an alcoholic beverage but a healing tonic. He said he has customers of Asian descent who believe the concoction has medicinal properties.

"It's almost a spiritual thing," said Popplewell, 63.

But alcohol commission agent Scott Jones pointed out that investigators confiscated 429 bottles of snake vodka and one bottle of snake tequila. At $23 a bottle, that's almost $10,000 worth of reptilian booze.

Even if Popplewell intended his drink be used as a healing tonic _ an assertion the alcohol commission disputes _ his use of vodka requires a state permit, authorities said.

"It's sold for beverage purposes, and he knows what he's doing," commission Sgt. Charlie Cloud said.

Popplewell said he uses the cheapest vodka he can find as a preservative for the snakes. The end result is a super sweet mixed drink that Popplewell compared to cough syrup.

"I've honestly never seen a person drink it," he said.

An Asian studies lecturer at the University of Texas said there is some merit to Popplewell's claim that snake vodka could be seen as a tonic.

There's a street nicknamed "Snake Alley" in Taipei, Taiwan, where street vendors put the gall bladder of a freshly killed snake into a glass of strong liquor. The drink, sold to the highest bidder, is supposed to improve eyesight and sexual performance, said lecturer Camilla Hsieh.

"It's like the ancient version of Viagra," Hsieh said.

Santo is located 60 miles west of Fort Worth.

This man abused a culture and a load of snakes for no good reason. It shames me to hear this man even considers himself a herpetologist. People like this need to be out of hobby. Let's evict them...now...

 

[dprince]

He was out trying to make an indecent, crude buck and got caught. Despicable. :main_no:

 

[MSMD]

*Sigh* :main_no:

 

[Select Gex]

I've heard of this practice in Asia. I actually know someone who sold baby rat snakes in a bottle of oil, their necks were flattened out to make them look like cobras. Interesting concept..

 

[PrototypeGeckos]

I've heard of this practice in Asia. I actually know someone who sold baby rat snakes in a bottle of oil, their necks were flattened out to make them look like cobras. Interesting concept..

Yep, across the street from where I work is a Vietnamese mechanic who we are friends with and he works on our cars. He has a bottle of some alcohol, I am guessing vodka, with a baby Rattler in it, he said you can buy them all day long in Vietnam.

 

[JGoslee]

When I was in the Marines we drank some kind of liquor that had a viper in the bottle. I forget what it was called. It was from Thailand.