Plucky terrier takes on black mamba...and wins

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.

“He stopped breathing twice and we had to almost start giving him mouth to mouth. After about four hours he started breathing on his own. Considering his size it was a miracle that he survived. The mamba was a hatchling and a full bite would kill a man if you didn’t go to hospital‚” Evans added.

Liebenberg‚ speaking to TimesLIVE after Jasper had been discharged on Wednesday‚ said she was relieved to have her canine companion home again.

“I hope that Jasper has forgotten that he is a hunter after being unconscious for such a long time‚ because I never want to go through this again‚” she said.

She thanked the staff of the Maryvale Veterinary Clinic‚ Dr Kevin McEwen from Netcare St Augustine’s and also Westville Veterinary Hospital for their role in saving Jasper.