Fayetteville Man Bit By Venomous African Snake

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- A Fayetteville man was sent to the hospital after an encounter with the lethal green mamba snake.
Fayetteville resident Jason Wiles was taken to Washington Regional Medical Center, but had to be flown all the way to St. Louis to receive treatment there. It was the nearest place to have a hospital with supplies of anti-venin used to treat the rare bite of the green mamba.
"This person was transported to Washington Regional Medical Center and then was transported later to St. Louis, the closest place that would treat a green mamba snake bite," Cpl. Rick Crisman of the Fayetteville Police Department said.
As it turns out, Wiles got very lucky.
"It was determined that it was a dry bite, where no venom was injected into the person,” Crisman said. “He wasn't in any danger at that point.”
Green mambas are extremely dangerous.
"From what I understand, it's one of the top ten most dangerous snakes which, there is really none worse than the other," said Jonathan Lusk with the Ozark Reptile Museum. "If you're in the top ten it's like getting shot with a .45 caliber gun. You're going to get hurt real bad.”
Lusk said the venom from a mamba can kill a person within 24 hours and said Wiles probably didn't realize how much danger he was in simply by keeping one on his property.
"A green mamba can get 10 to 12 feet long and they move at speeds of maybe 20, 30 miles per hour,” Lusk said. “If it gets loose, there's no way you're going to be able to catch it.”
Police said Wiles had several other snakes on his property, including several cobras and pit vipers. All of the snakes were removed by animal control and destroyed, and Wiles received multiple citations for keeping wild animals within Fayetteville city limits.
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