Yesterday, in the Rapid City Journal, there was a really interesting article about the folks down at Reptile Gardens who work with the visitor attraction’s dangerous residents.

The popular tourist stop, near Rapid City, was founded back in 1937 and has long been a favorite among vacationing families in the area. The Journal article highlighted one of the Reptile Curators – Terry Phillip and his work with the venomous snakes and crocodilians on the site.

According to the article, Phillip might have as many as 1,000 encounters with venomous snakes in a single week! But, despite the dangerous nature of many of the animals at Reptile Gardens, he’s only been bitten once in 13 years.

Let me do some math here: 1,000 interactions with dangerous reptiles every week. 52 weeks in a year. 13 years of working with these animals. That’s 676,000 encounters with dangerous reptiles. And only bitten once!

That’s a pretty good safety record, if you ask me.

The story went on to discuss how Reptile Gardens keeps a large variety of anti-venom on hand, just in case the unthinkable would happen. It’s a good thing too, because the Black Hills area hospitals aren’t equipped to deal with non-native cobras and black mambas – such as they have at Reptile Gardens.

That impressive safety record among the employees is evident in all aspects of a visit to Reptile Gardens.

Although the dangerous animals often get the majority of the attention, there is much more to Reptile Gardens than that. It’s a great place for the entire family. From the slow and gentle giant tortoises to the lively animal shows – it’s one of the Black Hills’ family attractions that children and adults alike will long remember.