Marlin had a good gig, hanging in the studio with the chimp, smokin' blunts while Jim wrestled the boa in fetid swamp water.
I used to watch Marlin Perkins on "Zoo Parade" in the 50's. He was at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago at the time.
From Wikipedia: "During his career, Perkins suffered multiple bites from venomous snakes. During a rehearsal of Zoo Parade, he was bitten by a timber rattlesnake. In other incidents, he was also bitten by a cottonmouth and a Gaboon viper."