Dogs are known for their ability to sniff out anything that is remotely predatory and dangerous. This is because a dog has about 50 scent receptors for every receptor that a human has.

A courageous dog recently saved its owner from a dangerous black mamba snake that was hiding under the sofa in Escombe, Queensburgh, South Africa.

For almost two days a Rottweiler dog had been barking at the sofa and pushing its owner away whenever he tried to settle down on it. Eventually, the owner got suspicious and moved the sofa to inspect the situation. He found out that his dog’s behavior did have a warranted reason as there was a Black Mamba hiding at the back of the sofa. Now that the dog had a clear view of the snake, the Rottweiler ran to attack the snake. Before anything can happen, the man’s instinct took over and he dragged his dog back to safety and immediately proceeded to call for help from Nick Evans, a South Africa-based snake catcher.

Nick later recounted the whole incident in a Facebook post. He explained that the chances of a dog finding the snake and attacking it, resulting in the death of the dog or the snake, or in some cases both, is way more common than what happened here in this particular case. He also added that people should not disregard their dogs’ abnormal behavior and that the owner in this incident did the right thing.

Black mambas (Dendroaspis polylepis), often live in shrubs and trees but due to habitat destructions, these fast-moving creatures are now finding their way to residential areas. This snake is a highly venomous one and its venom is known to be neurotoxic. However, the snake only attacks if it feels cornered or threatened.

Nick caught the 2.2m black mamba at the owner’s house and concluded that it was a happy ending for everyone in this case.

(Input from various media sources)

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