A truculent terrier named Jasper is on the mend after a brush with a black mamba nearly sent him to the big bone yard in the sky.
The fact that the feisty pooch survived the snake bite – which resulted in him being placed on a ventilator for several hours on Tuesday – has been called a miracle by herpetologist and snake catcher Nick Evans.
Evans said he had been phoned by Jasper’s owner‚ Morag Liebenberg‚ who said that the eight-year-old hound had killed a snake at their Dawncliff home.
“She thought the snake was harmless but she sent me a picture just to be sure – and it was a black mamba. It had been ripped to pieces. When I confirmed what the snake was‚ she rushed Jasper to the vet‚” he said.
His condition had deteriorated drastically‚ forcing Evans to rush to a city hospital in search of life-saving anti-venom.