Snake-handling preacher dies from snake bite

A snake-handling Kentucky pastor who appeared on the National Geographic television reality show “Snake Salvation” has died after being bitten by a snake.

According to a news release from the Middlesboro Police Department, someone called first responders at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday regarding a snake-bite victim at a church.

When the ambulance arrived, they were told that Jamie Coots had gone home. Contacted at his house, Coots refused medical treatment. Emergency workers left around 9:00 p.m. When they returned about an hour later, Coots was dead.

Coots was caught in January 2013 transporting three rattlesnakes and two copperheads through Knoxville, Tennessee, for his church. Tennessee wildlife officials confiscated the snakes, and Coots pleaded guilty to illegally wildlife possession. He was given one year of unsupervised probation.