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John Hollenhorst ReportingRadio DJ's got some laughs today by talking about an oddball lawsuit filed in Salt Lake City. A Davis County couple sued Sea World for damages caused in their house by a giant snake and other exotic animals during the Salt Lake Olympics. But to the people involved, it's no laughing matter.
Gil and Lori Workman rented out their house for three weeks in 2002.
Gil Workman, Centerville: "We're very trusting people. We've worked very hard for this home."
They knew the guests would be stage stars from the Olympics. The houseguests turned out to be Seama, the 200 pound tiger, Cody the cougar and Cleo, a snake so long it took seven volunteers to hold her.
At night, the critters and their handlers lived in the Workman's house. At the end of the Olympics Gil shot video of Seama descending the stairs, a penguin hobnobbing with a toddlers, and Cleo hanging out with the gang on the couch.
There was some damage to carpets and so on, but the main issue was that the giant snake started to shed its skin. To speed up the shedding, Sea World handlers allegedly put the snake in the Workman's jetted hot tub.
The day after the Olympics, Gil Workman slipped in the tub, which seems permanently greased with snakeskin and oil.
Gil Workman, Centerville: "I just put one foot in and I was gone. I fell down and hit very hard."
Lori Workman, Centerville: "An our life every day after that has been very devastated by that. Every day, 24/7, he's in pain. It's not a question about an animal urinating on our carpet. That's like so not even relevant. It's all about his pain daily, our pain daily!"
During the Olympics, the Workman's took the 17,000 dollars in Sea World rent money and boogied to Hawaii for three weeks with the extended family.
Gil Workman: "It was heaven, it was paradise. I just didn't think I was going to come home to hell."
In the lawsuit, they want Sea World to pay for damages as well as pain and suffering, which could run into the hundreds of thousands. Sea World's attorney did not return our call.
