- Most people, including me, would never wanna mess
with a venomous snake.
But Jim Harrison wrangles snakes every day.
And this is no joke.
He's been bitten multiple times
and has a few fingers missing to prove it.
(light music)
So why does he do it?
To get this.
This tiny bit of liquid could save lives.
- It takes five animals to do this.
And if you get bit, it will cost you either your body
or close to half a million dollars in medical bills.
- It's a key component in making antivenom,
the serum used to treat deadly snake bites.
And that antivenom is kind of hard to come by.
We'll explain it why.
This is What It Takes.
Looking at weird jobs that have an impact
and the curiously inclined people who do them.
(snake hissing)
(birds chirping)
(object thumping)
(light music)
- I was a police officer five years
til I got run over by a stolen car, did some bounty hunting,
I was a professional kickboxer.
But 43 years ago, I started extracting venom,
and I've been doing it ever since.
- Jim houses thousands of snakes
at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo that he runs
with his wife Kristen Wiley.
- I do 90% of the work. (laughing)
- Yeah, she does.
- Visitors to the zoo go into three buildings
that are open to the public, and then we have
11 other buildings that are not open to the public
that house the majority of the animals
that are used for venom production.
I'm gonna take this snake out and hopefully
put him down there.
He is really excited, I'm not real fond of that.
- Yeah he's real hungry.
- Every day, Jim and Kristen handle
the world's most venomous snakes,
such as rattlesnakes, mambas, vipers, and king cobras
like this one.
- Sorry.
- Together, they're risking their lives to save others.
- Don't come back out.
- So what does it take to extract venom?
Discipline.
Jim spends hours every day maintaining his physical health.
And before every extraction session,
Jim takes a moment to clear his head.
- I live a very Bushido type lifestyle,
and that is, when I wake up in the morning,
I'm prepared to die.
I know that death is there,
so I can't let my mind wander.
I have to be focused just on what I'm doing.
(light music)
- Okay, snake venom extraction,
first, get out the snake.
Don't get bit.
Then, set it on this mat and pin its head down.
Grab its head and place its fangs over this glass funnel.
Massage its head until venom comes out.
Put the snake back and repeat a half dozen times.
From there, the venom goes to the lab
where Kristen freeze dries it and preps it for shipping.
This material can be used in making antivenom,
which the World Health Organization says
is in short supply in the developing world
due to their high cost
and relatively poor healthcare systems.
So how's it made?
Well that part is kind of nuts.
- It's made by giving venom to a host animal.
Most places in the world use horses.
Those animals produce antibodies for the venom,
and then those antibodies
are essentially what you get as antivenom.
(mysterious music)
- Kristen says there's less than 40 places
in the whole world that produce venom.
So their work is a rare part
of a critically important system for getting antivenom
where it's needed the most.
And it's not just about antivenom.
Today their venom is going to research labs,
where it's studied for its potential to treat cancer,
lupus, Alzheimer's, and other diseases.
And since Jim lives off his police pension,
the money they get from their venom goes right back
into running the zoo.
- Most people when they think of venoms
and they think of the stuff, they think of death,
and I think of life.
Because it saves more lives than it'll ever take.
- We need to realize that all of this biodiversity
out there is what's keeping us alive.
It's part of the machinery of the planet.
- So for Jim, at the end of the day,
it's not about showing off or taking risks.
It's about helping people.
- When I was a police officer, a lot of the guys
who used to work for me said I was the first one
through the door.
It wasn't because I was looking for danger or death
or any of that stuff.
It was because I didn't want somebody else to get hurt.
(uplifting music)
- If you liked this video and you wanna see more,
then give us a like, subscribe to Freethink,
and you'll see all of our latest stuff in your News Feed.