THERE was a social media frenzy to locate a man on The Bluff who had been bitten by a venomous green mamba, but the incorrect identification by people in the comments of a post asking what snake it was, led them to believe it was a spotted bush snake.

The Snake Man Jason Arnold said that incorrect identification could have killed that man.

Also read: Black mamba rescued from Albert Luthuli Central Hospital

The misdiagnosis

The man who was bitten killed the green mamba after the bite and a member of the public posted pictures of the snake on Facebook to try and identify the snake.

The post received many comments with some tagging professional snake catchers, while others took matters into their own hands and identified the snake as a spotted bush snake. The original author of the post seemingly thanked the commenters for their assistance before going offline.

A race against time

Arnold said he saw the post and comments and immediately commented with the correct snake identification. He knew that this was a venomous green mamba and the man who had been bitten needed to be taken to hospital urgently.

“I got no response. I immediately went to his profile on Facebook and messaged him directly on Facebook messenger. I also tried to see if I could find any contact number for him, with no luck. I then asked on the comments thread of his post, if anybody on there knows him and perhaps has a number to contact him. By this stage, two women on the group comments thread had obviously seen my comments and realised the severity of the situation that was playing out,” he said.

Also read: Snake catcher shrugs off second black mamba bite with third snake capture

After a few calls, Arnold was able to get a hold of the man and informed him that people had incorrectly identified the snake and that the man needed to be transported to hospital.

Thus began the search on The Bluff to find this man who had been bitten as it was a matter of life and death.

Thanks to the assistance of security groups like RTL8 and All-Secure and members of the public, the man was spotted by the Engen garage on Tara Road.

At this point two lumps had developed on his forearm and he had already thrown up. Arnold said that sometimes the symptoms can be delayed and while he appeared well, there was a possibility of envenomation.

The man walked to Wentworth Hospital to receive further care.

Leave it to the experts

Arnold is calling on the public to please seek help from experts or snake catchers when identifying snakes as an incorrect identification can have serious repercussions.

To have snakes identified, contact Jason Arnold on 082 745 6375.

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