Rattlesnake Bite Hospitalizes NJ Senator

WANTAGE, NJ — A New Jersey state senator was hospitalized after being bitten by a rattlesnake earlier this week at the zoo his family has owned for generations.

State Sen. Parker Space (R-24) was feeding mice to rattlesnakes at Space Farms Zoo and Museum on Monday when one bit his finger, he said. Space, who said he has been working with rattlesnakes since he was 12 years old, said it was not the animal's fault.

"I thought I was a safe distance away," Space told Patch. "And I don't know if he thought my finger was a mouse, but he struck out and bit me."

Space Farms Zoo and Museum has a number of other types of snakes, including copperheads, rat snakes, ball pythons, and vipers. It was the first time Space had been bitten by a venomous snake, he added.

"I could see the two fang marks, but there was no pain at all to begin with," he said. "And then my middle finger started swelling up."

The senator said he drove himself to Newton Medical Center and received more than a dozen vials of anti-venom, but the swelling escalated and his skin was in danger of splitting.

On New Year's Eve, he was flown to Jacobi Medical Center in New York City, which has a center specializing in snake bites, in case the wound worsened.

Space was discharged on Wednesday and said he has been "out and about, but not back to normal," as his arm is still bruised and his hand achy.

He was back at Space Farms feeding the snakes, including the eastern massasauga rattlesnake that bit him, on Thursday, he told NJ.com.

"You know, it's part of the job," he told Patch. "That's what I do."

Ralph and Elizabeth Space founded the farm almost 100 years ago, and the zoo now comprises 400 acres with hundreds of live wild animals including bobcats, tigers, lions, monkeys, llamas, timber wolves, snakes and more. The Space Farms New Jersey Museum also has a collection of antique and classic artifacts from American history.