Durban - Two family pets have been hailed as “the heroes of the day” after taking on a 1.6m black mamba in a Kloof kitchen on Sunday afternoon.
And, had the smallest dog, Sweetpea - a 2.5kg Yorkshire terrier, which was bitten by the dangerous snake - not been rushed to the vet and given anti-venom serum, her bravery would have cost her dearly.
The drama unfolded just half an hour after Rob Aldworth, his wife, Callian, and their children, Stacey, 10, and Kyle, 12, had been in the kitchen.
“We were definitely lucky not to have encountered the snake. Who knows what would have happened,” Aldworth said.
He was alerted to the presence of the snake in his house, which overlooks Kloof Gorge, by the barking of two of his four dogs, Sweetpea and another small pet, a 10kg schnauzer, Nunu.
“I was at the swimming pool and went to see if there were monkeys in the house,” he said.
“I thought I saw something grey in the kitchen and thought it was the tail of a monkey, but then realised it was a black mamba…
“We often get grass snakes and you can just shoo them away, but I realised we could not deal with this. I called the dogs away and then my wife noticed that Sweetpea was becoming very lethargic and had two puncture wounds on her head.”
While his worried wife raced Sweetpea to the Hillcrest Veterinary Hospital, Aldworth posted details about the snake on the Upper Highway Info Group’s Facebook page and was soon put in touch with snake catcher Byron Zimmerman of Snakes for Africa.
Zimmerman was at the house within 30 minutes and by then, a crowd of onlookers - family and neighbours - had gathered to watch him capture what turned out to be a 2-year-old female black mamba.
He used a simple hook stick and the family’s broom and a pillowcase to do so, and he later released the snake in the Kloof Falls Reserve.
Zimmerman said that small dogs died very quickly from black mamba bites, but as Sweetpea had received anti-venom serum within 10 minutes, she stood a good chance.
“She has the heart of a lion. Both Sweetpea and Nunu were the heroes,” he said.
Aldworth said on Tuesday morning the family had not yet had an update on their pet’s condition.
“We were told last night (Sunday) that she’s doing fine and she would be okay. She was kept overnight for observation.”
He said the family was doing well, but his daughter had been restless during the night because she dreamt of snakes.
Daily News