Snake-charmer retires after last fang

[faze]

MALAYSIA
Snake-charmer retires after last fang
Posted Tue, 09 Nov 2004
http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/389174.htm

It was the last fang for Malaysian snake-charmer Bidin Mat Hashim when a cobra bit him in front of a Korean television crew. After 24 snakebites in a 50-year career, he's calling it quits.

Bidin, who has been handling snakes since the age of 15 and appeared regularly on television, told the New Straits Times: "I have given serious thought to it and have decided to stop, once and for all."

Bidin, who has been hospitalised several times and required intensive care twice, did not explain why the 24th bite was worse than the others beyond saying: "It was quite painful. And I was having difficulty in breathing."

He had been handling three cobras for a Korean documentary when one bit his right knee.

Apart from his wife and nine children who have urged him to quit for years, Malaysia's snake population may also be relieved by Bidin's retirement — he says he has caught more than 20 000 of the reptiles over the years.

AFP

[Ed_r]

Malaysia's snake population may also be relieved by Bidin's retirement — he says he has caught more than 20 000 of the reptiles over the years.

Gee you think those 20,000 snakes ended up in private collections? or on the dinner plate? Too bad it happened on tv and in the city, snake may have gotten him if he was out in the middle of no where.

[lumina sea]

Originally Posted by faze

Apart from his wife and nine children who have urged him to quit for years, Malaysia's snake population may also be relieved by Bidin's retirement — he says he has caught more than 20 000 of the reptiles over the years.

AFP

NINE CHILDREN!!! Ouch.


....anyway. Good point, Ed_r - I didn't think of where the snakes went to. Maybe he just let them go when he was done with them, though.

[Ed_r]

Maybe he just let them go when he was done with them, though.

Unfortunately in that part of the world eating a cobra, is said to have medicianal properties as well as an aphrodesiac. So while we can hope. I'm sure he was also putting food on his table from selling the snakes to market.