Durban’s well-known snake catcher Nick Evans has been keeping records of all venomous snake bites that occur in greater Durban.
As a result of his research, Evans has decided to share interesting statistics about the ‘fearsome’ black mamba.
Evans keeps records by requesting information from doctors at hospitals about patients that are admitted due to snake bites, while respecting patient confidentiality. He also networks with other snake catchers or with members of the public.
Black mambas are very common in greater Durban, particularly in valley areas and many reserves, he said.
“With eThekwini's massive human population and all these mambas, you'd expect there to be dozens of mamba bites a year. Especially with the mamba's reputation as an evil killer,” Evans said.
He said he has recorded the following:
- Six confirmed black mamba bites from 2016.
- A further two are unconfirmed, but likely.
- Only one death, one of the unconfirmed bites, a cattle herder.
- Six of these bites occurred because the patient was trying to kill the snake. One was inflicted on a man trying to capture the mamba. So only two confirmed bites were accidental by stepping on it, etc.
“I'm not saying there were not any others. Perhaps there were. They generally make the news in some way, though. Word spreads. But if there are others, there are likely not many others at all,” Evans said.
“Compare these figures to the numbers of murders, rape cases, hijackings etc, you will see you need to fear dangerous people far more than black mambas.”
Evans said that while black mambas are highly venomous animals, they do not want to bite anyone.
“You have to really irritate them to get bitten.”
Evans said that was why he liked keeping records.
He requested information from the public if they heard of any venomous snake bites in greater Durban. The same applied to pets.
“I don't want such incidents to happen, unfortunately though, they do,” Evans added.
Daily News