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ZIM DIASPORA (UK) 13 August 10 Unpaid Shabanie miner attacked by dangerous snake
A mine worker in Zimbabwe is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a dangerous bush snake, it has been reported.
A Shabanie Mine worker identified as Mr Osward Mutamba was attacked by a black mamba snake on Tuesday in Manjere Range while fetching firewood for resale as a means of eking out a living following unpaid months at the country's biggest asbestos mine.
The mine, which at some stage was the country’s biggest earner of foreign currency has not paid its workers since August last year forcing most of the employees to either resign in search of greener pastures or engage in other informal activities to raise some income.
Due to low salaries and high cost of living in the impoverished former British colony, most mine workers have resorted to doing part-time jobs such as selling firewood to supplement their meagre salaries.
Mr Mutamba was bitten by the snake when he sneaked into a private farm - Manjere Range allegedly to poach firewood which he then sells to the mining town of Zvishavane to sustain his family.
A fellow worker said he found Mr Mutamba lying on the ground helpless unable to walk away due to the snake’s dangerous venom.
“I saw Mr Mutamba lying on the ground crying for help. I then helped him to get out of the range before the game rangers could identify him since it is illegal to fetch firewood within the range,” he said.
Mr Mutamba’s fellow worker, who said he was also in the same habit of wood poaching, said the victim was now in hospital receiving medical treatment.
Mr Mutamba was admitted at the mine hospital and condition was said to have been improving.
“This is the only way that we can generate money to help meet our responsibilities of taking care of our families. We don’t do that out of choice. In fact we are risking because we can be shot dead by the rangers,” he said.
When contacted the mine’s human resources official said the mine was not in a position to comment on the incident as it did not know anything about it.
“Naturally, we wouldn’t know of such incident unless a report is made to the mine,” he said.
Commenting on reports that workers were resorting to poaching firewood, the official said the management was not aware that some of its employees were involved in poaching firewood in order to earn a living.
Unpaid Shabanie miner attacked by dangerous snake

ZIM DIASPORA (UK) 16 August 10 ZimDiaspora under-fire from snake lovers over Zvishabane black mamba
The Zim Diaspora has received a deluge of complaints from the world of snake lovers concerning our recent story on a Shabanie miner who was beaten by a snake while he strayed into some private property in Zvishabane, Zimbabwe.
Our story that has sparked off some global controversy is headlined Unpaid Shabanie miner attacked by dangerous snake and was published on August 13, 2010.
The miner, identified as Mr Osward Mutamba encountered a black mamba when he trespassed into nearby Manjere Range to fetch some firewood for resale in the mining town of Zvishabane. Mr Mutamba and some fellow miners have resorted to fetching wood for resale as a means of eking out a living due to unpaid wages at the country's biggest asbestos mine.
It was during this episode that he encountered a black mamba resulting in his injury. At the time of publishing the story Mr Mutamba was still in Zvishabane General Hospital where he was being treated for venom.
The snake loving world has bombarded us with complaints for publishing the story specifically our use of the world “attack” which they feel militates human beings against the species of snakes.
We wish to apologise unreservedly to be seen to be antagonising snakes with human beings. In Zimbabwe we are a nation that loves wildlife as it forms the most important entity in our tourism economics. We love our snakes.
We published a story which we assumed accurately described Mr Mutamba’s encounter with the black mamba which consequently left him in a hospital bed. It was a story in which a human being had an encounter with a snake in its habitat resulting in a human being injured. We apologise for the use of the work “attack” in reference to Mr Mutamba’s injury.
Below we publish an unedited letter written by a network 16 individual snake lovers from around the world. They all sent us the same letter.
Dear Editor,
I am writing today to express my extreme dissatisfaction in regards to your article about the Shabanie miner who was bitten by a snake. Your story repeatedly uses the word 'attack.' This is completely inaccurate. Snakes do not maliciously hunt down people and attack them. Snakes only bite when they feel threatened, this is an act of defence, not an outright attack. An account of the true nature of snakes can be found in a study done by University of Georgia Professor Dr. Whit Gibbons.
The following excerpt from Dr. Gibbons' study speaks for itself:
'All the snake species tested have had the same initial response to human presence.
If given the opportunity, they escape--down a hole, under a ledge, or in the case of cottonmouth snakes, into the water. Escape is even the standard behaviour of enormous diamondback rattlesnakes, which will immediately disappear if they have enough warning before they think a person can reach them. The snakes just want us to leave them alone.'
Snake bites on humans usually only happen when someone is deliberately trying to provoke or harm a snake, and the animal bites purely in self defence. According to NC State University, almost 80% of snake bites happen when someone is trying to capture or kill the snake. All these facts show that snakes are not aggressive or evil animals. If you provoke and capture a wild animal, what can you expect but to be bitten since the animal is going to try to defend itself?
The key to being safe around snakes is to simply leave them alone. The following excerpt from the book Dangerous Snakes of Africa by Branch and Spawls (1995), speaks volumes: Snakes never make unprovoked attacks.
Edward R. Ricciuti's The Snake Almanac (Lyons Press 2001), states that venomous snakes do not look for people to bite and Mark O' Shea's Venomous Snakes of the World (Princeton University Press 2005), proclaims that people must realize that snakes are not out to bite them but prefer to be left alone.
The kind of sensationalism found in your article only fuels an already prevalent fear of snakes and this fear contributes to the direct persecution of these animals.
This persecution can cause unnatural declines in snake populations and is a serious conservation concern. I hope any future articles concerning wildlife will be better researched and written.
Sincerely,

Kendra Pople-Easton
Radostina Dubarova
Carole Edmonds
Dawn Chapdelaine
Vivian Kate Wichmann
Lisa Koehl
Carole Edmonds
Laura Ferguson
Charles Schurman
Melinda Shepherd
Laurie Hyatt
Joseph Barnett
Andrea Prins
Kellie Martin
Chantelle Hall
Matt Ellerbeck
ZimDiaspora under-fire from snake lovers over Zvishabane black mamba