Michael Fumento

Veneration of nature can have painful consequences, as Maryland resident Sam Pettengilll found out the hard way.

The tiny copperhead slithered into: Pettengill's studio apartment at Kunzang Palyul Choling, a Buddhist temple near Poolesville, Maryland where all creatures great and small are venerated. Pettingill simply picked it up by hand and it simply bit him twice on the finger, causing his hand and forearm to swell up and making him woozy before he was taken to the hospital to receive anti-venom treatment.

But what counts is that the snake slithered away and is doing fine. It should have a book-movie package in the works by tomorrow.