World Champion 'Snake Man' Killed by Cobra

Reuters ^ | Mon, Mar 22, 2004

[presidio9]

Thailand's Boonreung Buachan, holder of the Guinness Book of World Records title for spending the most time penned up with snakes, was killed by a cobra that bit him during his daily show, a hospital doctor said on Monday.

Boonreung, 34 and dubbed Snake Man, was rushed unconscious to Prai Bung Hospital near his home town, 350 miles northeast of Bangkok, Dr Wipa Praituan told Reuters.

"He was brought here with no signs of life. He wasn't breathing and his heart didn't beat," she said.

Boonreung was listed by the "Guinness Book of World Records" in 1998 after living with snakes in a glass box for seven days.

An epileptic, he went into convulsions after being bitten, but no one took him to the hospital initially because they thought he was suffering an epileptic fit.

Boonreung's father said he would give his son's 30 snakes to a zoo because nobody in the family dared deal with them.

[alnitak]

Spetz, ahh, you found the site I was looking for earlier. The stories on http://www.anapsid.org/louisbaby.html are pretty good/scary.

[cyborg]

I saw a baby ball python once. It was sooo cute. Cute till the lady said it grows to be about fifteen feet. I pictured that thing scaring my mother into an early grave.

[alnitak]

Ball pythons only get to be about 5 feet.

Couple of snake pics I posted earlier on another thread (including a rather large reticulated python)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1102821/posts

It must be whacking day!

[cyborg]

Then the lady lied (or did my mom get to her first?!)

Not even a four foot snake...I can't bear feeding them :(

[spetznaz]

Yep, moms are always afraid of big snakes ....

[cyborg]

My mom is afraid of anything that crawls.... but she grew up with lizards, krapo,snakes and all that. LOL I would be disowned for harboring a snake :-)

[Feiny]

I have a ball python named Medusa. She is very fun to watch. She is on a hunger strike right now and has refused feedings for almost 6 weeks now.

[cyborg]

http://www.petreptiles.com/BPython/bpydiet.php3

[Feiny]

Everyone I know with Ball Pythons say that eventually they will refuse to eat. The lady at the pet store said she had one that refused to eat for 9 months. I am not that worried...she is still active...could be in a reproductive phase.

[cyborg]

When I get my own sprawling farm I will have my own snakehouse. I filched this off the net.

[Feiny]

Mine is a bit over 4 feet long, but she was only 13 inches when we got her.

[nuconvert]

BIG snake Pong

[wardaddy]

Puff adders remind me of that Italian woman who settled into some ranch in western Kenya and whose son raised the snakes and died by one.

They made a movie about her a few years back.

Worst snake on this side of the pond is the Bushmaster in my opinion. They are aggressive and strike high (1/2 body length) as well. Also mixed hemo-neuro toxin I believe.

I worked an opal mine in Pedro Seguna, Piaui Brasil in 1985-86 when floods came and drove the coral snakes into high ground (town). Lots of folks were bitten and died usually at night going to pee or something...particularly children. We went all over South America trying to find enough anti-venom but to no avail. It was awful. Then the water receded and the snakes went back in the rock.

A big change from my Mississippi experience with cottonmouths, copperheads and rattlers.

[vetvetdoug]

I was on emergency at the University of Tennessee one night at 11pm in 1983 when I got a call from a Washington D.C. hospital. It seems some homeboys broke into the National Zoo and stole a Gaboon Viper. The homeboy put the viper in a gunny sack and slung it over his back while making his getaway. As you said, the Gaboon Viper has some really nice fangs and when the homey slung the viper a little too rough the viper bit him in the back. We had a Gaboon viper at the Knoxville Zoo and some antivenin. They flew a fighter jet from Va. to Knoxville and picked up the antivenin and got back to treat the homey. You can imagine the cost to treat this homey and the cost to the taxpayer for this little foray.

I don't like to be around green or black mambas because they are very irritable and a pain to care for in a zoo environment. The spitting cobras are also a pain in the butt to work with because one has to wear a welders' facemask or like item and it takes away one's peripheral vision and quickness that comes in handy when cleaning their terrarium.

[thedugal]

He wasn't breathing and his heart didn't beat

He's dead, Jim.

[eeriegeno]

Story sort of sounds like the 'bear expert' who was mauled by a bear and killed in Germany!!!!!!

[spetznaz]

Wow! However i have a quick question. Were they trying to steal the viper for personal ownership, bragging rights, or to sell it? And if they knew what a Gaboon viper is shouldn't they have known that those things have long fangs? And short fangs or not who in goodness name puts the snakebag on their shoulder!!!! Sheesh, that is like tempting fate.

I am amazed that they managed to save the person's life! Whoever organized the rescue must be one serious strategist ....even going as far as getting an airforce jet to fetch the antivenin! That is just amazing. He or she must have known what they were facing.

Some more questions. How come they found the antivenin in this case yet in the one surrounding the Ohio firefighter there was none in the nation? WAs it because in this case the person in charge of the rescue knew exactly what was going on and had connections? Anyways i'd say the use of the jet showed someone with great presence of mind.

Also were you there? And if you were i was wondering if you managed to snatch a peek at the 'victim's' wounds. The tissue damage must have been apocalyptic. I am surprised though that the person survived. Did the snake deliver a full bite or did it just graze him with a fang? The reason i ask is because Gaboons deliver prodigious quantities of highly potent venom, hence a bite on the back should have been quite serious.

Whatever the case dude was lucky. Almost too lucky. If i were him i would purchase a lotto ticket.

[AdmSmith]

Talking about snake stories:

The deadliest snake is one with a gun
By Paul Sieveking

A CHINESE hunter trying to catch a snake was fatally shot by the irate serpent last June. The man named Li and his brother came across the snake while returning from a hunting trip on a mountain near Li Bian village in Huang Jin county, Shanxi province.

Li, attempting to add the snake to his hunting bag, placed the butt of the gun on its head. The snake then coiled itself round the gun and lashed the trigger with its tail. Li was shot in the buttocks and died on the way to hospital.

A similar accident took place in Iran six years earlier. Ali-Ashgar Ahani, 27, tried to catch a snake alive near Teheran in April 1990 by pressing the butt of his shotgun behind its head. The snake coiled around the butt and pulled the trigger with its thrashing tail, firing one of the barrels and shooting Ahani fatally in the head. His companion tried to grab the shotgun, but the writhing reptile triggered the other barrel.


http://www.arachnophiliac.com/burrow/news/the_deadliest_snake.htm

[nuconvert]

LOL.

How 'bout a snake on a Saturday night with a gun and a six-pack?

[texasflower]

Your homepage is very interesting.