Cape Town - A brave bull terrier named Dexter defended his owner against a Cape cobra and survived, a rare feat according to the manager of the African Snakebite Institute, Johan Marais.
Tracy Jacobs, a Klipheuwel animal-lover, came home from work on Friday afternoon to find a Cape cobra slithering in her garage.
“My dogs, Dexter, Jackie and Zoe, usually greet me in the garage when I come home from work. I was surprised to hear them right next to the passenger side. Dexter had jumped up against the side of the door and I thought he was playing too rough.”
When Jacobs got out of her vehicle, she spotted the intruder.
The snake went for Dexter – named after the television series about a forensics analyst who moonlights as a serial killer – and she shouted to alert him. The dapper two-and-a-half-year-old dog grabbed the snake by its neck and shook it before tossing it aside.
This was a very dangerous move according to Marais.
“Dogs instinctively attack snakes. Lots of them get killed this way”, he said.
Jacobs picked up the snake’s body with a rake and placed it into a container. She took a picture and sent it to her husband who told her to take Dexter immediately to the vet.
“We rushed to the Tygerberg Animal Centre, about 10km away. His head was lolling to the side, his lips blue. We were very concerned.”
Under heavy sedation, Dexter was hooked up to a ventilator and pumped full of anti-venom. The cobra’s neurotoxin had begun taking its toll on his organs and by the end of the weekend, Dexter was looking worse for wear.
“He was not looking good. His heartbeat was weak, his kidneys weren’t functioning and he was unresponsive to the medication.”
However, Jacobs did not give up hope.
On Tuesday, he was able to stand up and by Wednesday, Dexter was able to play outside with his owners.
Snake sightings are not uncommon in Klipheuwel, and Jacobs told the Cape Argus her cats “usually catch baby snakes”.
Marais said the snake Dexter encountered was probably a juvenile snake.
“The Cape cobra is a common snake in the Cape as well as parts of the Free State, North West and parts of southern Botswana and Namibia.
“It is an extremely venomous snake with a potent neurotoxic venom – victims need to be hospitalised urgently as they may have breathing difficulties within half an hour.
“Encounters with Cape cobras are common and bites are rare.
“We have around 10 to 12 deaths a year in South Africa – half by Cape cobras and half by black mambas,” Marais said.
Cape Argus