Ventura County Star, by
John Scheibe, July 6, 2017
A man was arrested Thursday in
Thousand Oaks after animal-control inspectors found that a home held more than
40 exotic and venomous snakes, including numerous species of cobras.
Todd Kates, 55, was booked into
Ventura County jail in connection with more than a dozen felony offenses of
animal cruelty, jail records state.
He was taken into custody as
authorities served a search warrant at the ranch-style house along the
1300 block of Rancho Lane after a motorist spotted an estimated
6-foot snake slithering across a road about eight weeks ago, said Marcia
Mayeda, director of animal care and control for Los Angeles County. Thousand
Oaks contracts with L.A. County for animal-control services.
Mayeda said the driver
deliberately drove over the snake, killing it. It turned out to be a Cape
cobra, a highly poisonous snake that's native to southern Africa, Mayeda said.
"This was the third time a
cobra had been seen in the neighborhood," Mayeda said.
Another cobra was found and
caught in the area in September 2014. That snake turned out to be a
monocled cobra. Authorities also learned that someone who lives nearby had
recently seen what appeared to be either a red-bellied black snake or a red
spitting cobra, both of which are venomous.
"That snake has yet to be
found," Mayeda told a throng of reporters during a news conference
Thursday afternoon in front of the home.
Other species of cobras were also
found in the home, including Egyptian cobras.
Each of these snakes, along with
others found on Thursday, "pose a significant danger to the public,"
Mayeda said, noting that "these are very dangerous species.”
She urged anyone encountering a
snake in the area to call 911. For anyone bitten by a snake, "it would be
very important to be able to describe what kind it is" so the appropriate
antidote can be administered, Mayeda said.
Staff members from the Los Angeles
Zoo were called to the scene to help investigators identify the numerous
species of snakes and other exotic animals found on the Thousand Oaks property,
Mayeda said.
Investigators also searched a
second home in the 800 block of Carlisle Road in Ventura County where
dozens more venomous snakes were found. In all, Mayeda reckoned that about 80
snakes were found at the two sites.
Mayeda said Kates did have a
permit to keep the snakes, but only at the Carlisle Road property.
"He had no permit to keep
them here," she said as she stood in front of the Rancho Lane home.
After the Cape cobra was found
dead on Rancho Lane, investigators suspected Kates was also keeping snakes at
the home there. An investigation was opened and search warrants were obtained,
she said.
Other exotic animals were also
found, including up to eight American alligators and dozens of other exotic
reptiles, among them a Gila monster.
Kates' bail was set at $250,000
but jail records did not indicate any scheduled court dates.
According to Ventura County
Superior Court records, prosecutors had not formally charged him with animal
cruelty as of Thursday night.
"I think it's just
despicable the kind of condition these animals were kept in," said Ventura
County Undersheriff Gary Pentis as he recalled the allegedly filthy areas
where they were kept.
Investigators also found numerous
rodents, including mice and rats, that they suspect were used to feed the
snakes.
Some of the snakes and other
animals were found in a detached shed near the Rancho Lane home, Mayeda said.
Mayeda and Pentis said
authorities hope some of the animals rescued Thursday will be going to the L.A.
Zoo.
Asked why someone would keep so
many poisonous snakes and other exotic reptiles and animals, Mayeda said, "I
don't know the motive."
She noted that it's not uncommon
for those who keep reptiles to include venomous ones in their collection. Among
the things investigators planned to look at was whether the snakes and other
animals were being bought and sold among reptile collectors.
Neighbors along Rancho Lane had
mixed reactions to the response Thursday.
Roger McGrath, who lives next
door, described the whole operation as "overblown." McGrath said he
woke up on Thursday to see a SWAT team and officers in full-body armor and
their weapons drawn outside his neighbor's house.
He was immediately concerned,
fearing something might be wrong with someone at the house. It was only
later that McGrath said he learned the police presence was because of the
animals.
"It seemed to me that it was
a bit of an overreaction" on the part of authorities, McGrath told
reporters Thursday morning. McGrath spoke before investigators had provided an
inventory of the animals found at the home.
"It looked like an assault
on the house early this morning," McGrath said. "It certainly didn't
look like they were doing a simple search warrant for exotic pets.”
McGrath described the reptile
owner as "the greatest neighbor that anyone could ask for."
Another neighbor, John
Davidson, said venomous snakes beyond the rattlesnakes that are native to the
area and found out in the open were inappropriate to keep.
A resident since 1974,
Davidson said many of the residents raise animals in a neighborhood that
boasts half-acre lots. Horses and other large animals are common in the
area.
But “there’s no room for cobras”
to be kept in the neighborhood, Davidson said.
According to Lt. J.C. Healy, of
California Fish and Wildlife, Kates had been permitted for years by the
agency, but he could not say how long.
"He's a permitted holder of
restricted species — some poisonous snakes," said Healy, who is assigned
to Ventura County and was present for the search.
"We advised them that this
guy does have permits on file with us. So they obtained that search warrant
based on the severity of the issue."
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