News...

[CTReptileRescue]

Thought maybe some of you would be interested:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...8976&rfi=6#TOP

'Cobra King' Is a Problem For Connecticut Officials




By: Asa Fitch 01/02/2004




He's apparently not that imposing-according to a "wildlife law alert" posted in the Sharon Town Hall, he stands five feet, five inches tall, wears glasses, is in his 70s and is "pot-bellied." But Rudy Komarek, a k a the "Cobra King," is allegedly a force in the illegal timber rattlesnake trade.

While Mr. Komarek is not wanted for any specific violations in Connecticut, state environmental officials are asking residents to call a hotline if they see the Cobra King doing anything suspicious in the area.
This Napoleon of the rattlesnakes is indeed a dangerous fellow, if a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report released in 2000 at a convention on illegal trade in endangered species is to be believed.
"Scientists say that Komarek, in collecting thousands of snakes illegally, devastated the populations of rattlesnakes in New York and Massachusetts and had a major impact on those of Connecticut and New Jersey," the report says.
Mr. Komarek was arrested in 1991 and 1992 in New York for taking timber rattlesnakes, an endangered species in that state. In 1993, he served four months in federal prison for taking snakes. In 1995, he was arrested in Kansas for taking snakes and was charged with violating a rattlesnake permit in Pennsylvania. And in 1998, he started advertising the sale of timber rattlesnakes on his Web site, www.cobraking.com.
In fact, his Web page is still up and running, and timber rattlesnakes are still offered for sale-200 of them at $100 each, starting in the spring. He also advertises $40 maps to snake dens, most of which are in New York.
However, at least three maps point the way to locations in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut.
According to state Department of Environmental Protection wildlife biologist Julie Victoria, Mr. Komarek's Web site and maps have been a nuisance for years. They've led rattlesnake poachers to seek out the snakes-mostly to keep as pets-and many property owners in the Northwest Corner have been forced to put up "No Trespassing" signs to keep them out. The publicity is also very dangerous for the snakes, she said.
"These are very long-lived creatures," Ms. Victoria said. "They don't breed until they're 12, so if you take one out of population, you basically decimate them. They are endangered in Connecticut, and to highlight where any sites are is a death knell."
In addition to maps, Mr. Komarek's site advertises "Cobra King" T-shirts and even guided rattlesnake tours of upstate New York.
"Now you can go on a guided tour into the deep woods of upstate New York to find the ultimate snake dens!" the Web site says. "Take a trip with Rudy Komarek, the Cobra King himself. Prices start at $5,000 US."
Alongside the snake-related advertisements, pictures and information are a bunch of tracts about UFO sightings, government coverups, and a personal ad: "Looking for young, slender female who enjoys travel, adventure, hiking and mountains. Must be unattached. LONG TERM COMMITMENT FOR RIGHT PERSON."
It all comes off as odd and a bit silly. But as far as the sale of timber rattlesnakes on the Internet, it's hard for the authorities to prove that Mr. Komarek is selling illegal snakes, because the snakes aren't endangered in all states, according to a New York Department of Environmental Conservation official. It's impossible to differentiate between an endangered and a non-endangered snake.
And according to Ms. Victoria, Mr. Komarek's sale of maps to snake dens is legal. It's illegal to possess timber rattlesnakes in Connecticut, but it's not illegal to have a map pointing out where they are.
Ms. Victoria said federal authorities at one time tried to prosecute Mr. Komarek on the basis that he was selling topographic maps without a federal license to do so, but that angle of attack failed.
"The problem is I don't have any evidence on him," Ms. Victoria said. "We have to catch him red-handed."
Police in New York believe he's moving between Pennsylvania and Florida, perhaps making jaunts on rattlesnake hunts to New England. They're asking anyone who sees him or his 1984 four-door Crown Victoria sedan to turn him in.
Currently, Mr. Komarek is in East Palatka, Fla. In a telephone interview, he said he wasn't concerned with the authorities' pursuit of him. In fact, he chalked the whole thing up to a couple of former friends in Northwestern Connecticut who, he said, had become jealous of his ability to find large snakes in large quantities and now were putting up posters with his picture on them in public places.
He said he had just been looking for rattlesnakes in Southwestern Connecticut and Eastern New York this past spring, and, while he realized that it was illegal to capture them in Connecticut and New York, he wasn't concerned. He said he and his crew of snake-hunters typically "only take a certain number from each den" in order to preserve the population.
"It's a rotating thing," he said.
In any case, he argued, timber rattlesnakes are not, in fact, endangered. He said the states have a faulty idea of how many snakes there are because they don't know where the dens are.
"First place, rattlesnakes are not endangered," Mr. Komarek said in a powerful voice. "They've never been endangered. We saw 308 [this spring], and 108 came from New York State. As a side note-Mr. Komarek frequently spoke tangentially-he said he was going to make a TV movie next spring about his adventures with rattlesnakes. He also mentioned a potential movie about two groups-one composed of boys, the other of "tom boy ... types"-that would compete in a snake hunt.
"We're coming out to take a video," he said. "We'll have a young 19-year-old girl jumping around the rocks, and that's going to be in the video, and stuff about snakes. We're in competition with Steve Irwin [the Aussie reptile wrangler who is host of TV's 'The Crocodile Hunter'] here."
According to Ms. Victoria, despite the damage illegal endangered species traffickers have done, the justice system isn't eager enough to prosecute the cases to the full extent of the law.
"The trouble with wildlife enforcement is when you bring it into court with a judge who deals with murder and things like that, it takes on less importance," Ms. Victoria said. "Some judges are not as sympathetic toward animal life as they are toward human life. But a law is a law."
But before a trial can happen to test the justice system's resolve against poachers, the state will have to catch Mr. Komarek in an illegal act, which is clearly the purpose of the "Wildlife Law Alert" in nature centers and town halls.
The one in Sharon was posted by Ms. Victoria, not Mr. Komarek's jealous ex-friends.


©Litchfield County Times 2004

[BallKingdom]

Anyone we might know from around the online herp community?

[CTReptileRescue]

I don't think so but you never do know with the internet. This guy is a bit sleezy thou, if you go to his website you can see "girls of the Cobra King", that's assanine, I'm going to put together a site of the girls of Rusty's Dragons..lol
This guy is just really getting unde rthe skin of my DEP and US F. & W.
They seem to be building a nice case thou, So I am excited about his arrest.
I don't like to see any species "locked in a box" so to speak, ecspecially our native endangered species.
Thanks
Rusty

[Chondro788]

Yeah this guy is a real piece of work. I read through most of his website a laughed hard. Whats all this UFO crap in the middle of all the snake info? I would have to say the world will be a better place with this guy in jail
Jason

[CTReptileRescue]

I agree fully,
The DEP and F& W seemed to be laughing at alot of the info on his website, I really hope they can get him