N.J. state senator lands in hospital after snake bite, reports say

New York’s Staten Island. After being bitten by a snake at the Garden State zoo he owns and runs, a New Jersey state senator ended himself in the hospital on New Year’s Eve.

According to NJ.com, the sister website of SILive.com, state senator Parker Space (R-Sussex) was bitten by an eastern massasauga rattlesnake on Monday at Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Wantage.

The senator was transported to Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, which has a dedicated snakebite unit due to its close proximity to the Bronx Zoo, after spending two days in a hospital in New Jersey.

The snake is not to blame. I’m to blame. Space told NJ.com, “I must have let my guard down a little bit.”

Space drove himself to the New Jersey hospital after the incident occurred when he was feeding the snakes mice, according to Space and his wife, Jill, who spoke to the outlet.

Staff there gave the senator antivenom, but as his finger swelled further and threatened to explode, they ordered him taken to Jacboi.

In collaboration with the herpetologists at The Bronx Zoo, Jacobi established its snakebite section in the early 1980s. It treats five to ten snakebite cases annually that are too severe to be treated with antivenom alone.

In an interview with the New Jersey Herald, Space was upbeat despite the experience, making jokes about spending New Year’s Eve in New York City.

“I had never been in the city on New Year’s Eve before,” Parker remarked. However, I didn’t anticipate it being in a hospital.

Located around one and a half hours from Staten Island, the Space Farms Zoo and Museum opened its doors in 1927 and is home to a number of exotic species, such as tigers, lions, and snakes.

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