Maybe Richard Ritchey should get “The Reptile Man” trademarked.
There was a lot of confusion following a story in Tuesday’s Columbian — and picked up by the Associated Press, appearing in The Oregonian and on local TV news stations — that the Reptile Man was sentenced to five days on a jail work crew for having 40 snakes in his house without a license.
The reptile man is Vancouver resident Aaron Flett, 36, an amateur herpetologist who sometimes would show his snakes in area schools.
Ritchey, of course, is not that reptile man, but he does own and operate a business called The Reptile Man, based out of Colton, Ore.
For 20 years, Ritchey has presented educational programs on reptiles at schools, church functions, festivals and scout gatherings from Medford, Ore., to Seattle. According to his website, http://www.reptileman.org, he presents his programs to 20,000 people annually. His closest Clark County connection is that he owns D.B. Cooper, a wayward alligator caught outside Vancouver in summer 2009.
So, needless to say, Ritchey was a little miffed when his mother called him, saying she saw on the TV news that the Reptile Man was punished in Clark County District Court.
On the heels of his mother’s phone call were two e-mails from Ritchey’s worried fans:
“Having seen you multiple times and having you at my daughter’s seventh birthday, I am sure you are not the man sentenced!,” read one of the e-mails. “Not sure how, but you may want to post a disclaimer that you are not this man!”
“It was enough to worry me a little bit,” Ritchey reflected Tuesday afternoon after sending an e-mail to The Columbian to clear up the confusion.
He already knew of Flett — he bought two of his rattlesnakes after they were turned over to an Oregon pet store — and that he was nicknamed the Reptile Man. Ritchey said there’s even a third reptile presenter in the area who wears a T-shirt with the moniker. But, he said, he isn’t too worried about it.
Asked if he has a license to own his reptiles, Ritchey said with a laugh: “Oh yeah. You can even see a copy of it on my Web page.”
