An Illinois law that requires pet shops to notify customers of safe reptile-handling practices may not apply to the case of a 2-year-old boy who allegedly contracted salmonella after petting a snake at a reptile store and zoo.

The mother of Trevor Wirtz filed a lawsuit that alleges Serpent Safari of Gurnee, Ill., is liable for his salmonella infection. He petted a snake at the store on Dec. 14, 2007, the suit says, and was diagnosed with the digestive disorder three days later.

The complaint doesn't identify the snake but Serpent Safari owner Lou Daddono told the Daily Herald newspaper that it was an albino Burmese python that lives at the store and is not for sale. He estimated more than 400,000 visitors have touched the python without a problem.

No precedent addresses the liability of a business owner for an illness contracted from an animal. But Sara Wirtz argues that Serpent Safari's “acts and/or omissions” amount to negligence in part because they violated the reptile-safety standards of Illinois law.

Among the violations of 225 ILCS 605/18.1, she says, the store failed to post a notice about hand washing after touching reptiles; failed to provide hand sanitizer for patrons; and “failed to warn Plaintiff regarding the risk of contracting salmonella from handling and/or touching reptiles."

Sara Wirtz also claims Serpent Safari is liable under common law for allowing and encouraging a two-year-old to touch or pet a snake.

Between 1991 and 2001, the number of U.S. households with reptiles more than doubled to 1.7 million and the Centers for Disease Control has estimated that 74,000 cases of salmonella infection a year are associated with exposure to reptiles or amphibians, representing 6 percent of all salmonella cases.

Illinois became one of the first states to pass a reptile-safety law in 2001. “There is a real danger with a child's immune system -- they are much more susceptible to salmonella,” one of the law's sponsors said. “Snakes and reptiles can have that all over them, and it can easily be transmitted to children.”

The statute, however, specifically regulates the “[s]ale or gift of reptiles or other animals,” requiring a pet store that offers reptiles for sale or gift to display in the store and distribute to the purchaser a “notice regarding safe reptile-handling practices.” The notice tells customers, among other things, “Don't nuzzle or kiss your pet reptile.”

Whether or not Serpent Safari had posted the notice, it may be able to argue that it is not liable for Trevor Wirtz's alleged salmonella infection because the python was not for sale. The law also does not require pet stores to provide hand sanitizer, saying only that the notice must include the statement, “Always wash your hands thoroughly after you handle your pet reptile.”

Daily Herald readers are blaming the mother rather than the store. “If this 'mother' is so incompetent that she doesn't know enough not to let a toddler touch a snake, she shouldn't be a parent,” one said on the newspaper's website.

Another questioned how Trevor's infection can be attributed to the pet store when he “must have touched hundreds of items in the mall that day (including most likely a baby changing station).” Serpent Safari is located in the Gurnee Mills shopping mall, which has more than 200 stores and 20 eateries.

The suit also names Trevor's grandmother, Judith Penoyer, as a plaintiff, saying she was “actively involved” in his care at the mall and “thereby contracted the same salmonella infection.”

By Matthew Heller
1/8/10