A few years ago, I was almost blacklisted within the venomous snake community because I brought up a question that apparently didn’t sit well with people…. If we can identify and reproduce individual venom using modern biotechnology, why aren’t we putting more effort into developing alternatives than repeatedly extracting venom from live snakes over and over again? I understand that replicating an entire venom is far more complicated than reproducing an individual toxin. Snake venom is a complex mixture of proteins, peptides, enzymes and its composition can vary. But that’s exactly why I think this is an area worth investing more research into. Venom extraction requires restraining and handling the animals, which can cause stress and carries risks of injury. Repeated extraction raises legitimate animal welfare concerns as well, most of them end up having shortened lifespans. There are also concerns about how captive venomous snakes are housed and fed. While specialized, nutritionally balanced diets can be appropriate in certain circumstances, snakes have species specific nutritional needs and force feeding should not be treated as routine husbandry when it can be avoided. And then there’s also my issue with venom quality and contamination. Venoms need to be properly identified, collected, kept in sterile environments, stored and tested. Mixing venoms from different species without accurate labeling or disclosure would be a serious scientific and quality control concern….and it does happen to cut corners. I’m not claiming we can eliminate the need for live venom collection overnight. I’m asking why we shouldn’t be investing more heavily in recombinant toxins and other biotechnological approaches that could reduce our dependence on it. If we can develop reliable alternatives for even some of the compounds we currently obtain through extraction, that could mean fewer animals subjected to repeated handling, collection and more consistent research materials with potentially better tools for developing medicines and antivenoms. I don’t think questioning an established practice is an attack on everyone who works in the field, I was apart of it even. I still support venom labs, they save lives and I believe a human life is always more important than an animals. I just think animal welfare, scientific progress and better long term methods should be part of the same conversation I guess. Anyway, do with that information as you please. 🐍☣️