Unwisely trying a snake swallowing stunt ends the life of a Russian man. These reptiles are not lethal, but it was for the victim.
In Astrakhan, Russia, an unnamed farm worker, 55, tried to swallow the steppe viper while other workers were reportedly observing. Predictably, the non-lethal snake bit him inside his mouth, which was followed by an allergic reaction that led to his death soon after.
Viper bites farmer that tried to swallow it
The video showed the farmworker trapping the reptile in his mouth while his co-workers watched him do the stunt in a watermelon field, reported the Sun UK.
Based on some accounts, the 55-year-old man made two attempts to shove the snake down his throat. It was on the third when disaster struck, and the snake bit his tongue and throat. It is common knowledge that steppe vipers don't have enough poison to kill humans. So, the bite is expected not to be lethal.
He was brought to the hospital for emergency treatment a few hours after the incident. His tongue and throat got swollen from the bite, which the doctors later diagnosed as Quincke's edema.
The worker suffered from anaphylactic shock from the venom that led to swelling of his tongue, which grew too big for his mouth, making breathing hard, and the man was gasping for air, remarked one report. Physicians at the Kharabalinskiy district hospital tried to save his life but failed, noted Central Recorder.
The trick was quite popular as locals from the area did this a lot and well. A local herpetologist mentioned that the steppe viper was commonly found in the stems of the picked watermelons. The Russian man doing the snake swallowing stunt made a wrong decision that led to his death.
The expert explained the snake species is not as poisonous to humans but deadly to insects.
Clarifying the cause of death, the snake expert said the patient's allergic reaction to the venom killed him. It can be comparable to a wasp sting that caused the same response.
After the farmworker died, local residents were warned of the risks. The bulletin said that anyone must do no ill-advised snake swallowing or other uncalled-for experiments.
Man bites snake to death
In India, Jajpur, it is rather odd because the victim caused the snake's death, which is a bit bizarre. This time, it is the human that does the biting.
According to reports, the snake-killer is a 45-year-old tribal man who was bitten by a snake near a faraway village in Odisha's Jajpur district, cited NDTV. He later chomped the snake to death, the same one that bit him earlier.
Kishore Badra, a local from Gambharipatia village, reported going home while walking on a paddy field where a snake bit him. It happened on a Wednesday night, but he was unharmed because the snake was not poisonous. Badra got even when he caught the offending viper and bit the animal repeatedly that killed it.
He described what happened in a statement saying that something bit his leg while walking home. Turning on his torch, he found the viper and got revenge by taking the snake and biting it several times till it was dead on the spot. He took back the dead reptile and told his wife what transpired.
Some bystanders told him to be checked at the hospital, but he shrugged it off and went to a traditional healer instead. Badra fared better than the Russian farmworker attempting the snake swallowing stunt.
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