FLORENCE — One of the world's most venomous snakes bit a Florence man at his apartment this month, drawing criticism from snake experts and highlighting the risk of handling deadly reptiles. Jeffrey Leibowitz was bitten Sept. 5 by an inland taipan, a snake native to Australia that's considered to have “the most toxic venom of any snake in the world,” said Francis Marion University biology professor Jeffrey Camper.
“He shouldn't have been doing what he was doing,” Camper said. “Handling it with his bare hands, free handling it, I think that’s just extremely reckless and irresponsible, and he is now paying the price for that.” Horry County Schools working 'diligently' to craft new cellphone ban, officials say Leibowitz, who identifies himself as a digital creator on Facebook, often posts videos of him handling venomous snakes.
He's an administrator on the Venomous Snakes Classifieds page, which has 50,000 members. In his videos, he speaks to the snakes as though they're pets. He calls a rattlesnake "a cuddler.
" He sings "Rock-a-Bye, Baby" to a black forest cobra as it creeps up his arm. He becomes acquainted with a Gaboon viper and concludes "apparently we're cool." Just hours before he was bitten, Leibowitz posted a video of him holding the inland taipan and explaining how he could guide the snake's movements by gripping it in a specific way.
"You're in total control," he said. "There's no need to be so scared." Horry County Schools joins federal lawsuit agains.