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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.
www.4029tv.com/r/26199745/detail.html

I'm not 100% sure that what I'm about to advise is true in all circumstances, so if anyone knows better, then please correct me.

If you're bitten by a venomous pet snake, please DO NOT CALL 911, as this will alert the police to your situation and it will usually get into the media. Instead, if possible, get someone to drive you to the nearest hospital and insist that you want your medical condition to be treated confidentially.

A friend of mine was bitten about a year ago by his Black and White Spitting Cobra. He took a cab to the nearest hospital, and the incident was never reported to the police or the media.

20-30 mph? He feeding the mambas at the Ozark Reptile Museum jet fuel? Yea, the guy is lucky,and yes, mambas are deadly-but there is no reason to destroy his snakes. Donate them to some place like KRZ for crying out loud. I assume he was breaking city ordinance than? Huh. Ya know, we could use cases like this to argue against legislation--using the "people are going to do it anyway" argument. Kind of a dirty way to fight the fight, but hey--when you're fighting for survival the rulebook should go out the window.

"20, 30 miles per hour" ??? Wow, took me all of 30 seconds check this claim. The fastest snake in the world (black mamba) maxes out at 12 mph.

Also, I love the way this reptile "expert" presumes that the owner of the snake (and by implication most venomous snake owners) are complete and utter morons who don't understand the danger of owning a green mamba.

"All of the snakes were removed by animal control and destroyed"

Geez, was "destroying" the snakes really necessary. I wonder if PETA and HSUS will intervene given that these animals were unnecessarily put to death.

Hell no they won't. Instead, they will use this incident to further their anti-hot agenda. Bastards.

QUOTE "A green mamba can get 10 to 12 feet long and they move at speeds of maybe 20, 30 miles per hour,” Lusk said. END QUOTE

I'm not so sure this isn't a bit dramatic/extreme.

Wouldn't the guy have a clue it was a dry bite? Did things get out of hand after authorities were notified? Of course they are going to validate their actions and pat themselves on the back. They've saved society once again. What would we possibly do without them?

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer