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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Famed Indian snake catcher fights for his life in hospital after being bitten on the leg by a 10ft king cobra during rescue-gone-wrong in India
2022-02-02
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Vava Suresh is a famed Indian snake-catcher who has appeared on TV and rescued thousands of snakes, relying largely on pure bravery

  • 48-year-old was rescuing a 10ft king cobra on Monday when the reptile bit him

  • He managed to get the snake into a sack, but then fell unconscious and was rushed to hospital where he suffered a heart attack

  • Suresh is in intensive care but has begun breathing on his own, local media says
Posted by:Skidmark

#8  I've met up with quite a few cottonmouths. Never stepped on one but I have startled them. They will go off where they think they are safe and turn around and watch you. And they can and will bite under water. My uncle was bit on the foot while wading in waste deep swamp in south Alabama.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2022-02-02 15:27  

#7  Got one, Skid. That old moccasin was out of sight and range in a flash. Just about airborne as he flung his loops around.
Posted by: Glenmore    2022-02-02 15:12  

#6  Glenmore, .410 Snake Slayer for your cargo shorts.

Posted by: Skidmark   2022-02-02 14:24  

#5  If I ever got bit by a venomous snake India would be great place for it! Locally we had the guy who has a venom extraction lab get bit by a king cobra during feeding time. Wife takes him to the hospital with the antivenin. Checks back with the doc and gets told he still on the ventilator. The problem was the antivenin was for Australian tiger snake so the Doc didn't give it. The thing being that this can be MORE effective than king cobra antivenin for treating bites. Of course the person who knew this was unconscious , and you still might have to explain this to a doc who hopefully was awake for the three slides about it in his ER class. At least in India you have docs who have experience treating cobra bites. Hearing he is breathing on his own means he is pretty much out of the woods. Now it is just how much tissue damage there is at the bite site.
My closest call was stepping a 3' water moccasin, fortunately for me the snake had read Gibbons et al paper on such things.
Posted by: Vinegar Spolusing6485   2022-02-02 13:25  

#4  Good thing Owlbears aren't poisonous. They're the worst.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2022-02-02 11:02  

#3  Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. Same with snakes. But at least (most) bears don't have poisonous fangs.
Posted by: SteveS   2022-02-02 09:35  

#2  Skid, I ran over a cottonmouth last year with the wheel of my brush mower - they really can hurl their whole body... fortunately away from me... it was quite amazing.
Posted by: Glenmore   2022-02-02 00:48  

#1  Remember, they strike 1/3 of their length.

Unless they're Cottonmouths.
Then they just hurl their entire body.
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-02-02 00:09  

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