An encounter between a snake and a
baby ended in a surprising outcome Thursday, when the infant's mother
walked into his room to find him chewing on the dead reptile.
The
infant, Imad Gadir, whose family resides in Shfaram, was not hurt when
he bit the unlucky coin snake, but was taken to Haifa's Ramabam Medical
Center, just in case.
According to Imad's grandfather, Shaheen
Shaheen, who recalled the family's tumultuous morning, the boy woke up
when his father left for work at 6:30 am. The 1-year-old left his
parents' bed and headed to his room, where he found the 35-centimeter
(13-inch) snake. He then grabbed it and bit its head off.
"It
wasn't a pretty sight," Shaheen said. "He's a baby, he didn't know what
he was doing. He thought it was a game. I don't wish this kind of thing
on anyone."
When Imad's mother realized what had happened she
began screaming, until a neighbor jumped the house's fence, entered the
room and snatched the snake out of the boy's hand.
"I went to the
kitchen to get him some milk, and when I came back I saw he was already
eating," the mother, Alain, said. "I screamed until the neighbors came.
I still can't believe what I saw."
Veteran snake-catcher Eli Cohen said he has never come across a case of this kind.
"I
guess the kid acted out of a childish instinct when he put the snake in
his mouth," he said. "Luckily for him, the coin snake isn't poisonous,
otherwise it could have ended in a tragedy."
Eli Cohen, the owner of a pest control company,
estimated that the snake was three years old, and said that his bite
often hurts but is not dangerous to anyone who isn't allergic to it. He
said that this type of reptile chokes his prey. "If it was a bigger
snake, the boy could have been strangled."
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