NJ lawmaker flown to hospital after venomous bite

🐍 NJ lawmaker bit by venomous snake
🏥 Given anti-venom, flown to NY
⚕️Thankful for medical response

A North Jersey lawmaker and lifelong wildlife enthusiast ended 2024 in the hospital, treated for a venomous snakebite at his family’s zoo complex.

Sen. Parker Space, R-Sussex, said he was on the mend after being bit by an eastern massasauga rattlesnake while feeding it on Monday — NJ.com first reported and Space confirmed the encounter for New Jersey 101.5.

Space and his family live in Wantage, also home to their Space Farms Zoo and Museum, which opened in 1927.

The 100-acre complex has more than 500 wild animals, including lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, lemurs, buffalo, kangaroos, monkeys, llamas, hyenas — and a roomful of snakes, the legislator said.

While the massasauga “usually has a striking distance about a third of its body length,” Space said, he got a bit too close while feeding it.

He felt the quick string of a bite, followed by the stunning sight of two fang marks on the middle finger of his left hand.

The massasauga is a "small pit viper" usually found in the northern midwest of the U.S. and in Ontario, Canada, according to the federal Fish and Wildlife Service.

After walking to tell his son where he was going, Space began the 20-minute drive to Newton Medical Center.

By the time he arrived, his hand had swelled to double its normal size and pain was creeping up his arm.

Hospital staff, already on alert thanks to a call from Space's son, administered 10 vials of antivenom, followed by another four vials.

The lawmaker said by Tuesday, the biggest concern was that the pressure of the reaction to the bite could literally split his skin.

Space was ultimately flown by medical helicopter to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where the hospital has an impressive snakebite treatment program.

The program was established about 40 years ago, as the hospital is 2 miles from the Bronx Zoo, which is home to a variety of venomous snakes and other exotic wildlife.

Space was kept for observation 24 hours after his last dose of anti-venom and was able to go home on Wednesday, before returning for a check-up on recovery.

He said the trauma of the bite and treatment has left his hand and arm bruised, but that he would ultimately be "tougher" for surviving the ordeal.

Space also said the response by medical professionals who treated him and by friends and others who have reached out to offer well-wishes has been tremendous.

Space was elected to the State Senate in 2023. He served as an assemblyman from 2013 to 2023.

His family has farmed in Sussex County for eight generations and he has been a volunteer firefighter since 1989.

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