Mutant snake attacks fisherman in Moscow region

A viper attacked a man while he was fishing at the Moskva River. Specialists say that it is too early for the snake to wake up under the chilly spring temperatures in Moscow.

Photo: Mutant snake attacks fisherman in Moscow region

Vladimir Schelkunov, 49, will remember his spring fishing 2009 for a very long time. The man was hospitalized from the river bank. Doctors said that the man was born with a silver spoon in his mouth: vipers are extremely venomous after they wake up from their winter sleep. The ambulance arrived just in time: the man was about to die from the edema of his internal organs.

The man went fishing with a company of his friends. While fishing, he heard something rustling in the grass. Vladimir looked down and saw a live viper at his feet.

“I could not believe my eyes at first. It was cold in the morning, the temperature was a couple degrees below zero, and it was -6 degrees at night. I know that vipers wake up only when it gets warm,” the man said.

Vladimir decided to film the unusual events on his cell phone. He took the snake in his hands (the reptile was hardly moving) and began filming it. The viper suddenly attacked the man and bit him in his finger.

His left hand began to swell because of the venom and went numb several minutes afterwards. Vladimir nearly lost his consciousness because of the terrible pain.

“The bite was extremely painful, it nearly knocked me out. I did not feel my left hand when the paramedics arrived,” the man said.