Who was Elliot Senseman? Man, 27, dies after being strangled by 18-foot pet boa constrictor
FOGELSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA: In a horrific incident, a 27-year-old Upper Macungie Township man succumbed to death four days after being strangled by his 18-foot-long pet snake. The man was identified as Elliot Senseman by the authorities. The unfortunate attack occurred on Wednesday, July 20 when Senseman's pet boa constrictor wrapped itself around his neck at his home in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania. The snake strangled Senseman causing cardiac arrest.
Officers arrived at his home at 2 pm and had to fatally shoot the snake in the head to free Senseman from its grip. Senseman was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, about 10 miles from his home, according to authorities. On Sunday, July 24, Senseman died at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. The cause of the death was anoxic brain injury due to asphyxiation by constriction, the Lehigh County coroner’s office said while ruling the death an accident, Associated Press reported.
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In a Monday, July 25 statement, the coroner's office said: "A boa constrictor-type snake approximately 18 feet in length constricted around the neck of Mr Senseman, thus causing the anoxic brain injury (complete lack of oxygen to the brain)." Lt Peter Nickischer noted on Monday that the circumstances of the attack remain unknown because the "dire situation prevented extended interviews about the snake."
Upper Macungie Township police and the coroner's office are conducting an investigation. NBC10 Philadelphia reports that during a search, cops found at least two more snakes and other animals in the house. According to family members, Senseman frequently rescued unwanted or abandoned animals, especially snakes.
Speaking to The Morning Call, Senseman’s grieving mother Heather Lyons described her son as a "generous spirit with an off-the-wall sense of humor". “He was eccentric and fun and unique and brilliant,” Lyons said. “Everything he did was for other people. Even the damn snakes, he was rescuing them from people who couldn’t take care of them.”
Senseman's friend Jeremy Rios Griffin of Delaware County, who met him at Kutztown University in 2016, believes the snake that killed him was a reticulated python, the world's longest snake and one of the types Senseman raised.
Rudy Arceo, who in 2017 founded the Schuylkill County-based Venom Institute, said education and safety are key for residents who keep pet snakes. “Reticulated pythons are really pretty — they have different morphs,” Arceo said Monday, July 25. “So, people buy them for the different colors and patterns. And when they buy them, they’re like 17 inches, 18, 20 inches. ... And then they take it home, and this thing grows 7 feet the first year or year and a half. Then all of a sudden, they got a big snake on their hands,” he said. He further explained that snakes try to maintain their balance without arms or legs.
“But if you put this snake around your neck, and you’re walking around hanging out with it or whatever, they will wrap around and they’ll just basically try to maintain balance,” he said. “And unfortunately, if you’re not paying attention, they can get around your neck, and then when you try to actually push-pull away from it, it can be really difficult", Morning Call reported.
Residents who keep non-native reptiles and amphibians as pets face no statewide restrictions. Upper Macungie Township’s ordinances only mention the prohibition of “venomous snakes that could be toxic to humans.”
Griffin said Senseman was passionate about snakes and reptiles — and animals in general as well as environmental science, which both men studied at Kutztown. “To me, he was a misunderstood genius,” Griffin said. “He was a visionary. Some of his thoughts were things nobody else would have come up with", he added.
“Eccentric is the word. Some may even say weirdo,” he said. “He was kind of a hippie type, too, if you had a modern-day hippie.” Lyons added that Senseman was helping a group in Africa to grow crops in its arid areas. “He was working so hard and he didn’t want to profit off of anything,” she said. “His life was a devotion to everybody.”