Durban — A black mamba that a snake catcher recently removed from the Reservoir Hills with severe damage to its spine died and its body will be used for research.
That was according to snake catcher Nick Evans who said he recently removed the black mamba from a garage in Reservoir Hills.
“Unfortunately, it had severe damage to its spine (look at the middle of its body). I assume it was hit by a car and still managed to get into the garage. The homeowners hadn’t harmed the snake,” Evans said.
“This mamba was furious! It couldn’t move away, because of its injury. But it had full mobility of the front half. It was striking at me repeatedly once I grabbed it with the tongs and had a close call.”
Evans said the black mamba died and its body will be used for research.
He said that mambas are known to be extremely dangerous animals, but over the years he has learnt that black mambas are misunderstood.
He also said that while their bite is undeniably dangerous, they are shy snakes which only bite if they feel their life is in danger, and would much rather just move away.
“An injured black mamba, from my experience, is quite a different animal. When they’re in excruciating pain, they strike wildly at anything that moves near them, and a bite from a mamba in such condition would not be a dry bite,” Evans said.
The snake catcher recalled that the most dangerous black mambas he has worked with were always injured ones.
“I remember having to remove one off a top shelf that had been stabbed with a steel rod. It lashed out multiple times, furiously.
“Another that comes to mind, was one on a kitchen counter, that had been sprayed with doom. I have never dealt with such a mental, dangerous mamba,” Evans said.
Evans said he was not trying to scare anyone when it comes to black mambas but if you leave them alone, then you have nothing to worry about.
“But if you decide to try and kill one, you put yourself at a very high risk of being bitten. I know of a few bites which have been inflicted on people beating mambas with long sticks etc,” Evans said.
He said the same goes for any snake.
“Within the last week, a man tried killing a Mozambique spitting cobra in his house. He got spat at and was in a great deal of pain,” Evans said.
He said please, rather call a professional for help, for your own safety.
“I see people making idiotic accusations on social media about me, quite often, making out that I lie about advice just given, or when I say repellents don’t work etc so that I can make ‘more money’. I recently read someone telling people if they keep listening to me, it will get them killed,” Evans said.
“No snake remover is making a reasonable amount of money. We don’t do this for money (although we obviously need money to operate and live). We often help underprivileged people at our own cost.”
“When I give advice, yes, it is to conserve snakes, but it is to help people too.”
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