VIDEO-Jason Arnold rescues black mamba during load shedding

IN his lifetime, Jason Arnold, has rescued thousands of venomous snakes, often times in precarious situations. On Wednesday evening, however, Arnold faced something he has never had to contend with, load shedding while trying to remove Africa’s most venomous snake, a black mamba.

Arnold was called out to a Newlands West home just after 8.30pm on Wednesday after being contacted by the panicked homeowner.

“The resident had just spotted the mamba slithering under his sofa and was on the phone to me when the load shedding kicked in. When I arrived on scene I used a torch and a headlamp and found the snake coiled under the sofa in the living room.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7F9EAUJxq5/

“It wasn’t too difficult to get him out because I’ve been in tough situations like this before, never during load shedding though. The black mamba was around 2.2 metres long and I later learned the snake had in all likelihood, picked up on the scene on several of the homeowner’s kittens and followed that into the house. He was probably setting up an ambush spot under the sofa,” he explained.

Arnold added he had received a number of call-outs in the last two weeks for black mambas and Mozambique spitting cobras.

“I’d like to just warn people to be aware and to stay calm if they happen to come across a snake. Don’t go into a frenzy. Stay calm and keep kids and pets away from the area and monitor the snake from a safe distance and call a professional snake catcher,” he said.

Contact Arnold on 082 745 6375.

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