Man Thought He Stepped on a Snail at Marina Bay East; Turned Out to Be a Snake

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Apart from the wild boars who frequent Sengkang MRT station, you don’t see much wildlife on the streets of Singapore.

Once a horse appeared out of nowhere in Yishun, but that was Yishun, so no one thought it was weird.

When you go for a walk or jog in areas surrounded by nature, however, you’re more likely to come across unfamiliar creatures.

So you had better watch your step because you might just end up putting your foot down on a snake.

Man Thought He Stepped on a Snail at Marina Bay East; Turned Out to Be a Snake

A man has taken to social media to alert other joggers about the presence of snakes in Marina Bay East, after a frightening encounter with one himself.

The man detailed the incident in a post on Facebook.

According to the man’s post, he had gone for a walk around Marina Bay East yesterday (27 Aug) at about 1:20am.

At one point, he felt that he had stepped on something squishy, and thought it was an unfortunate snail, but the strange thing was that there was “no cracking sound”.

The man then felt some pain and discovered he was bleeding. He then saw a large, 2-metre brown snake slithering away and realised that he had just been bitten by a snake.

“Couldn’t take out [my] phone to take fast enough to take a shot before it went into the bushes”, the man wrote, adding that the serpent was on the jogger’s path.

Fortunately, the man felt well enough to return to the car park and drive to an accident and emergency department.

The snake, thankfully, was not venomous.

The man said he has alerted Gardens by the Bay to the incident, who said they will look into it.

He also urged joggers around the area to be careful.

Image: Facebook
Image: Facebook

In his post, the man also uploaded pictures of the area where he was bitten.

Image: Facebook

What to Do and Not to Do If You Get Bitten By a Snake

While there are some venomous snake species in Singapore, snake bites are rare, and fatalities ever rarer – the last reported death from a snake bite was in 1995 when an 80-year-old man was bitten by a cobra in the bathroom of a nursing home.

In any case, here’s what you should and should not do if bitten by a snake:

  • DO stay calm and call 995
  • DO immobilise the bitten limb – tie a bandage two to four inches above the bite wound to slow the spread of venom in the body, but don’t make it too tight or the area might become numb or cold
  • DO clean the wound – first stop the bleeding by applying pressure, then clean the wound with soap and water to prevent infection before dressing it up with a wound
  • DO seek medical attention immediately
  • DON’T wash the wound under running water
  • DON’T try to cut the wound
  • DON’T apply ice on the snake bite
  • DON’T suck the blood out with your mouth – germs from your mouth might cause infection in the wound. Also, you’re not a protagonist from a war movie.

And finally, don’t attempt to identify the animal to guess if it’s venomous, as even some physicians can’t distinguish between the two.

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]