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Poisonous snake challenge brought to an early stop

The Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) yesterday put to an end a show of one man living together with 100 poisonous snakes, on the third day of the planned ten-day event.

Chen, who visited the site of the show yesterday, asked the police to ban it under the Social Order Maintenance Law (社會秩序維護法), the Tatung Police Station (大同分局) said. Police then persuaded the performer Lin Ching-feng (林青峰) to stop the show and leave.

An officer of the police station said yesterday evening that they were considering passing the case on to the courts under an article of the Social Order Maintenance Law that bans performances that "violate acceptable social conventions."

However, the officiating officer in the case acknowledged that the article is more about banning obscenity, and might not be applicable to the performance of a man living with snakes.

If the charge is filed, the performer and organizer of the show may receive detention penalties of no more than three days or a fine up to NT$12,000.

Lin appeared disappointed when he was asked to leave by police. "It's a pity," the 28-year-old air-conditioner repairman said. "I didn't do anything unlawful."

Police said that, since the show started, they have received many complaints saying the show was too dangerous.

Earlier yesterday while his performance was still on, Lin said he had "almost gone crazy."

The challenge of living with 100 poisonous snakes for 10 days was sponsored by Taipei shopkeepers. Lured by the NT$1 million award, dozens of daredevils signed up. Lin was chosen because he had played with snakes since a child. The show started on Friday when Lin began to live in a room with 50 poisonous snakes. More snakes were to be tossed into the room until they totalled 100.

Inside the room, there was a sofa bed, some bonsai trees and a toilet. Lin was dressed in fatigues in the hope that the snakes would take him for a tree. He also wore leather boots. Still, he could not sleep soundly out of fear that he might have fallen off the bed and land on the snakes.

"I sleep as little as possible. Being constantly on guard is driving me crazy," he said via the intercom.

Lin nearly gave up on Saturday when his parents and young daughter, all weeping, went to see him and pleaded with him to quit. Lin refused to quit because he wanted to win the prize and to prove that people can live peacefully with poisonous snakes.
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