'Furious' Black Mamba Found With Broken Spine in Garage

A snake catcher has found a "furious" black mamba with a broken spine slithering around the garage of a suburban home.

Nick Evans, who owns a snake removal company in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa, explained in a Facebook post that the black mamba had been spotted in a property in Reservoir Hills, a suburb of Durban.

He quickly realized the snake had a broken spine. A photo of the animal, with Evans holding its head, shows the severe injuries to the middle of its body.

"I assume it was hit by a car, and still managed to get into the garage. The homeowners hadn't harmed the snake," Evans said.

Black mambas are highly venomous snakes native to southern Africa. Their bite has a fatality rate of 100 percent if left untreated.

But the species is shy and reclusive, so they usually prefer to flee rather than attack. The snakes are also incredibly fast—they can slither at speeds of 12 miles per hour.

Evans wrote on Facebook that, over the course of his career, he had learnt that black mambas are "very misunderstood." An injured black mamba, however, is "quite a different animal."

Snakes usually only attack if they feel provoked or threatened. If a snake is injured, it feels vulnerable and the chances of it attacking are a lot higher.

Evans said: "When they're in excruciating pain, they strike wildly at anything that moves near them, and a bite from a mamba in such condition would not be a dry bite."

The black mamba in the garage was "furious," he added.

"It couldn't move away, because of its injury. But it had full mobility of the front half. It was striking at me repeatedly once I grabbed it with the tongs, and had a close call."

During the spring snake season in South Africa, it is not uncommon to find snakes slithering into homes. They will enter properties in search of prey—attracted by the smell of mice or other rodents—and shelter.

Evans works to remove the snakes from populated areas, releasing them in a safe location away from humans.

However many people who find a black mamba in their home become frightened and try to kill the snake. Evans said this was a bad idea.

"If you leave them alone, you don't have much to worry about," he said. But if you decide to try and kill one, you put yourself at a very high risk of being bitten. I know of a few bites which have been inflicted on people beating mambas with long sticks etc."

The injured black mamba died, Evans added, and "its body will be used for research."

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