BOB ON GREAT SNAKE QUEST
10:30 - 22 March 2004
Naturalist Bob Axworthy is on a bizarre quest for an antidote for rattlesnake venom on behalf of friends in Bulgaria. Bob, from Stroud Road, Gloucester, says his friends in the Eastern European country run a reptile exhibition and could die if they can't get hold of the rattler anti-venom.
Rostiflav Haynadjieva and his wife Vihra have drawn a blank in their efforts to buy the anti-venom in their home country and have asked Bob to see if he can help.
But he says he has proved no luckier because it seems the firms which produce it send all their supplies to America, where rattlesnakes live in the wild.
"Has anyone got any ideas to help my friends?" asked Bob, who met the couple when he went on holiday birdwatching in Bulgaria.
"I approached the Bulgarian equivalent of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds asking for accommodation and was put in touch with Vihra, who was the secretary at the time.
"I have been going out there for years now and I really would like to help them. Her husband handles the rattlers and I wouldn't want to see him die for lack of anti-venom.
"They have four rattlesnakes at the moment, one of which is pregnant. When the young are born they will be just as virulent, if not more so, as the adults.
"The anti-venom is called CroFab but it really seems very hard to get hold of. The firm which makes it exports it to America but for some reason they will not supply Bulgaria.
"Ideally I would just like information on where it is available, the price and the durability so I can pass it on to Vihra. If push comes to shove, I would buy it and send it on to them."
Vihra and her husband run their exotic reptile exhibition centre in Bulgaria's second largest city, Varna.
Anyone with information about how to get hold of the anti-venom can ring Bob on 01452 502 437, or e-mail Vihra on haynadjieva@hotmail.com
CROFAB needed in Bulgaria
