A black mamba was being rescued from a tree by a South Coast snake catcher when the person holding a step ladder for him fled before he could descend safely with the snake.
Sarel van der Merwe claims that while he was recently rescuing a black mamba from a tree in Port Edward, the person holding the step ladder for him let go of the ladder and ran in the direction of Van der Merwe’s girlfriend.
According to Van der Merwe, Dave Watson, a councillor at the time, called him around six times about mambas, puff adders, and boomslang that were on or near his property.
His property is huge. The black mamba, according to him, was almost directly on his fence but more on his neighbor’s side.
Van der Merwe claimed that after entering the property with his girlfriend, Emma, he informed Watson that he would want a step ladder because he was unable to climb the tree, and they arranged for one for him.
He claimed he did not want to fold the step ladder out since it would start to drift away the instant it was placed up against the trees. They therefore just folded it into a triangle.
“I climbed up the step ladder and one guy holding it, with one hand, the step ladder was shaking all over. I couldn’t look down because I was busy looking at the snake,” Van der Merwe said.
Emma told the man to hold the step ladder with two hands.
“Then I felt it was a bit steady,” Van der Merwe said.
“The moment I grabbed the black mamba, he let go. And I got a grip on the mamba with my grab stick (tongs) and I could just feel the step ladder start falling. I just looked at the snake and I looked at my view, where am I going to fall?
In a split second, you need to figure out everything.
“I fell nicely and twisted the grab stick so he (snake) can’t get to me. I necked him and put him in a box,” Van der Merwe said.
He said the guy holding the step ladder said Van der Merwe must mention his name for helping him.
“I said you didn’t help me. You dropped the step ladder and ran to my girlfriend taking the photos,” Van der Merwe said.
“So even that photo with the step ladder, she missed it because he was running to her.”
Van der Merwe said the snake was a nice size.
“He wasn’t that aggressive because it was getting late and then they are a bit more chill,” Van der Merwe said.
“It wasn’t too sunny. He was a bit cold there between the tree branches. There wasn’t too much sun on him. The sun was starting to go down.”
According to Van der Merwe, the snake was released the next day.