Danger From The Flood Emerges As Deadly Green Mambas Escape

[steffi]

The only concern is their possible impact on the environment if they do end up making it out to the country and start reproducing.

You hardly ever see snakes in Bangkok. Rats and mice, on the other hand, are everywhere. I for one would welcome a few green mambas if they could help reduce the rat population.

I was staying in Don Muang and over a 3 month period we had saw 3 snakes in our front yard in our Moo Baan. They are definitely there in Bangkok. Wife's mother was bitten by white lipped green viper just last year in the same area.

[Bagwan]

I read quite some time ago that on average 300 snakes per month are caught in BKK and are released up country. Was in the quality BKK newspaper.

In the interests of accuracy, snakes are, or not, venomous. ASAIK none are poisonous and may be eaten. I have done so myself, many years ago when on an 'adventure holiday' thought up by an enterprising RN officer by going on anti-terrorist patrol in Malaya with soldiers including Ghurkas. In return we took them to see after my ship had been repaired and they had the thrill of running at 36 knots for an hour or two.

Edited November 8, 2011 by Bagwan

[Soboringtochooseaname]

Hi,

Do you know if they caught the snakes ?

And what about the antivenin, has it been sent back to South Africa ?

Tssssssssss :-)

[DeepInTheForest]

What are the chances of actually catching all of these? I hope no one has a bad encounter with these things. And shouldn't they fly the serum in from south America now as there is a good chance it will be needed soon.

I stand to be corrected but green mambas are native to East Africa so <deleted> would they be getting anti-venom from South America for....lost in the translation again....may be should read South Africa ?

Brazil has a unique institution in the state of São Paulo: the Butantã, as it is known internationally in the medical field.

Butantã not only researches and develops new approaches to treat most snake bites in the world, but it also has thousands upon thousands of different types of serum/antidotes stored and provided free of charge to any hospital worldwide.

Unfortunately, most tropical countries such a Thailand, for generations, have preferred to live with the risk of death by venom toxin than to invest in a facility to store antidotes for species known to live in the country.

If Thailand has never, never seriously in decades of terrible floods (I was here in 1995) have summoned the wisdom and know-how of Holland to rid the country of the devastating effects of the floods, what can we expect of the Thai governments in the 21th. century?

There has been a snake bite and venom research centre at Chulalongkorn University Hospital Rama IV which was established in 1947. I thought this was common knowledge especially as there was a bit of fuss in the past about the dangers should their snakes escape during Bangkok floods.

Since death occurs within 25 minutes, antivenom will not help you unless you are carrying it with you when bitten!

The "snake farm" as it is called in the backpacker literature, is worth a visit. I cannot tout it highly enough. It's near Silom. You can find more details here:

http://www.tripadvis...te-Bangkok.html

The people who do the milking are dedicated to their job-- some will show you their scars from accidents with the snakes. They also love their profession and their snakes, and will tell you that snakes are essential to the ecology of the region. They attempt to educate the public via their demonstrations. I'm not sure about bringing the snakes outside to show us, or what animal rights people would say about that, but the interaction with nature is somehow, well, very Thai.

The Bangkok center also provides antivenin to other countries in the region.

There is something about seeing a 16-foot Burmese cobra on the ground in front of you (the audience sits in a little concrete grandstand) that brings a heightened awareness of how good life truly is...

Edited January 26, 2012 by DeepInTheForest