In a perfect example of loyalty, three dogs, Puma, Tobacco and Baby, of the often antagonised pit bull race, laid down their lives to save their owner from a 3.3m black mamba.
Melissa Spider, also the owner and CEO of I&M Industries in Valencia, said she and her family had heard a rattling sound in their backyard last Monday, March 6, at about 18:00. “A few metres from my kitchen door, Tobacco was smacking and shaking around a very big snake,” Spider said. “We grabbed spades and other steel stuff and rushed to help, but within seconds, the snake was torn into pieces.”
What followed next filled the Spider household with devastation. As soon as the snake was dead and the dogs had walked away, Baby and Tobacco, both pure pink-nose pit bulls, instantly started to vomit. “I knew I had to react immediately,” Spider said. “As we got inside to attend to them, Puma (a pure American pit bull) cried for my attention.” As she looked over, he too was reacting to the mamba’s venom.
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She describes the three hours thereafter as the “most torturing moment of our lives”.
“Time was moving extra fast and no medication was helping. As the hours went by, I sadly had to say my first goodbye to Tobacco as he took his last breath. Ten minutes later, Puma also took his last breath. Baby still looked OK, but after an hour she took a bad turn. We watched her battle for a maximum of 10 minutes, and we began to pray to God to release her. She took her last breath at 20:50.”
Spider said she hopes this testimony of sacrifice and devotion will change people’s perceptions of the pit bull breed. “My three pit bulls, without hesitation, immediately responded to the enemy and destroyed him, protecting myself, my husband and my four young children, and shortly afterwards lost their lives.”
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In a word of warning, Chris Hobkirk of the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency and Lowveld Venom Suppliers said the snake’s behaviour is not abnormal for this time of year. “Winter is on its way and summer is nearing its end. The snakes did not receive enough food during the season due to the rain we [the Lowveld] had experienced, and therefore are coming out during the sunshine,” he said.
Although he said there is nothing households can do to prevent snakes from entering their yards, they can be proactive by keeping these clean. “If the snake smells something in the yard, it will stay there to hunt.”
Hobkirk acknowledged that animals are the first line of defence and will alert and protect their households when they feel threatened.
