Green mamba scare in Prague over after venomous snake caught
A highly venomous green mamba that bit a woman and went into hiding wreaked havoc on a Prague district -- before it was caught on a tree on Friday.
(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 24, 2010 a venomous West African Green Mamba snake that will soon be on display in the new Reptile House at the Los Angeles Zoo is seen on September 23, 2010. A green mamba that bit a woman before going into hiding has wreaked havoc on a Prague district — despite experts saying the snake is probably dead by now. On October 5, 2018, police said they would cease the house search and give the snake a break until Saturday to give it more time to creep into one of the traps. / AFP PHOTO / Mark RALSTON
The mamba bit its breeder, a 30-year-old woman, on Monday, police and media said.
The woman, who had no breeding licence, is in an induced coma at a Prague hospital after receiving an antidote.
Police evacuated her house in the Hlubocepy district in southern Prague while a nearby kindergarten banned children from leaving the premises.
Herpetologists said the snake was unlikely to leave the house given the cold weather outside, but the reptile was found on a tree about 200 metres from its home.
“Mamba found! And caught!” tweeted Miroslav Bobek, head of the Prague zoo whose employee caught the mamba.
“I would like to know when the snake set out on the trip but yesterday’s warm afternoon and a nearly subtropic Friday made it easier,” he added.
The woman who found it in her garden said she was still shocked and added the snake “has had enough” too.
Jokers on social networks used the escape to rename the nearby district of Barrandov “Mambarrandov” and depicted a movie poster with Macaulay Culkin’s head replaced with that of a green mamba to show the snake was “Home Alone”.
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