Rumours of an escaped killer cobra are just fake news

Snakes are shy and defensive animals. Their first line of defence is escape, they don’t go out of their way to bite and attack people at all

What do you get if you cross a cobra with the SPCA? Mass hissteria!

An East London Facebook post slithered across local social media on Wednesday, claiming a large cobra, after escaping from the SPCA in Amalinda yesterday, attacked two boys.

The now-removed post, written by Unam Ndzolo on the “What’s Happening East London” Facebook group, read: “Please be careful!!! The Biggest Cobra has escaped from SPCA in Amalinda. There are two boys (15 and 18) that were bitten & wrapped by this cobra, they passed away today around 13H41 in Amalinda near Emerald Sky. ”

Ndzolo did not respond to Dispatch’s calls or messages.

SPCA manager Andries Ventre vehemently denied the claim, asserting that the local SPCA does not handle reptiles.

A post on the SPCA Facebook page responded to the allegations and said: “The SPCA does not keep snakes, the zoo does. There’s a snake in the grass somewhere in this post ...”

Manager of the Venom Pit Snake Park, Juan Marillier, said a friend had sent him the post, which he called “rubbish”.

“Somebody sent it to me on Whatsapp, a screenshot, and I just immediately replied saying ‘it’s just a hoax’.”

With over 39 years of experience handling reptiles, Marillier said that first, cobras don’t constrict their prey and second, they are not prevalent in the East London area.

“We don’t have any cobras living in East London. The nearest cobra we have would be the Cape Cobra and their range down the coast is from Kidd’s Beach and inland near King William’s Town.

“A cobra bites its prey and waits for the venom to take effect, there is no constriction.

“The largest snake in the country is the South African python, from which, when we look at records, there is only one fatality from the 1970s.

“Snakes are shy and defensive animals. Their first line of defence is always to escape, they don’t go out of their way to bite and attack people at all. A cobra rears up to show it’s nervous and try to frighten you off.”