On July 17, 2015 In Austin, Texas there was an 18-year-old man that seems to have been bitten by a monocled cobra in his vehicle recently and died of cardiac arrest (heart attack). This site got hammered with thousands of page-view requests for the monocled cobra fact page as a result.
The news report was horribly inadequate. It told that the man was bitten by a monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia). It showed snake tongs outside the man’s truck. It said the man died. It said that authorities were now looking in Austin, Texas for a monocled cobra and that they have a “good chance” of catching it. Huh? A good chance? I wouldn’t say that at all.
But, I don’t know where they’re looking. Maybe there isn’t much in the way of greenery around there and maybe it won’t be difficult to catch the snake. Anyway, when the temperature dips into the 50’s or so, that snake will not be mobile because it probably never experienced anything like 50°F!
Here’s our Monocled Cobra snake page for more information about the snakes.
Want Daily Snake News? See SNAKESCOOP.com – Worldwide daily snake news with more facts and information than other channels, including BBC, WWF, Reuters, etc.
The autopsy report came out today, he was bitten several times about both arms. He was on drugs, they are certain it was suicide.
Another commenter left this on my contact page, I think better to drop it here –
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Lance Hollister
Hi Vern,
Was reading your website today and I believe I read on your site about the young man in Austin TX died from a monocled cobra bite. I lived in Dallas when that happened. Sadly it was a suicide. The snake was found dead not too far away having been run over by a vehicle.
Regards from Colorado
Cheers for that Lance