What to do should you encounter the Pretoria Zoo's escaped black mamba

20 March 2013 - 11:35 By Jan Willem Bornman
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
A black mamba. File photo
A black mamba. File photo
Image: Nikita Ramkissoon

The Pretoria Zoo’s two-meter long black mamba has escaped from its enclosure, and the zoo staff are unable to track down the snake.

Sapa reported that the zoo’s marketing manager, Craig Allenby, claimed there was no reason to panic as the snake was “in all likelihood preparing for hibernation, and was in a constricted area, with little chance of it reaching any member of the public”.

The black mamba is the most dangerous snake in Africa, perhaps even the most dangerous snake in the world, according to africaguide.com.

It is nicknamed the ‘15 minute snake’ because it is highly venomous and has a fatal bite.

The snake has a neurotoxic venom which means the snake venom attacks your brain. For this reason, the black mamba’s bite is called the ‘kiss of death’. It is also reported that the black mamba won’t just bite once, but numerous times.

People can recognise them from their long and slender appearance, and grey colour. They get the name black mamba because the skin inside their mouth is black.

Should you be bitten by a black mamba, the University of California’s toxicology department website advises the following:

  • Call for transportation for the victim and inform a hospital.
  • Keep the victim calm and reassured.
  • Make them lie flat on the floor and avoid movement.
  • If possible, let the area of the bite rest lower that the victim’s heart.
  • Wrap a large crepe bandage snugly around the bitten limb, and secure it to a splint to keep the affected area as still as possible.
  • Do not remove the splint and bandage until the victim reached a hospital and received antivenom.
  • Make sure that at least 10 vials of South African Institute for Medical Research (S.A.I.M.R) Polyvalent Antivenom are present with the patient.
  • Do not cut or incise the bite.
  • Do not apply ice to the bite site.
  • Do not suck out the venom.

Do not kill the snake - it's just defending itself from what it thinks is a threat to itself. The aim is to educate and conserve.

Allenby said should someone of the public be bitten by the black mamba at the Pretoria Zoo, there is nothing to worry about because the Eugene Marais hospital “is just a call away”.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now