What A Way To Go

Animal Crackers

 

Boonreung Bauchan, 34, who set a world record in 1998 by spending seven days locked up with poisonous snakes, was showing villagers a new cobra in the north-eastern Thai province of Si Sa Ket on 18 March when a deadly mamba bit him on the right elbow. He took herbal medicine and a shot of whisky and continued with the show until he collapsed. An epileptic, he went into convulsions, but no one took him to the hospital initially as they thought he was having a fit. He died in Praibung hospital the following day. Reuters, Associated Press 23 Mar 2004.

 

A 30-year-old Swede died after being buried alive under a 13-ton pile of peas in a storage silo. He was working on an electrical installation on a farm near Mjolby in south-eastern Sweden when the peas were dumped on him. Rescue workers pulled him out but were unable to revive him. Reuters 14 Aug 2002.

 

A rooster, about to be set loose for a cock-fighting bout in Zamboanga in the Philippines, attacked its handler with the razor-sharp steel spikes strapped to its legs. The spikes cut the man's thigh and groin, causing him to bleed profusely in front of shocked spectators. He died on the way to hospital. Associated Press - 15 January 2003

 

Flatulent parrots killed an animal lover who collapsed and died in Tegelen, Holland . The unnamed victim, whose double-glazed house reeked of expelled wind from dozens of pet birds, had called an ambulance, saying he felt ill — but died before paramedics arrived. The police blamed a combination of the birds' farts and ammonia from their droppings. Sun, 21 Nov 2003.

 

Mavril Jones choked to death on carbon monoxide fumes from her coal fire in February 2003 after a jackdaw built a 3ft (90cm) deep nest in her chimney. The 85-year-old widow, from Pontlliw, Swansea , South Wales , had put wire over the chimney, but it had either blown away or been removed by the birds. She was found in her front room with her devoted Jack Russell dog, which survived, alongside her. Daily Express, Sun, 22 Nov 2003.

 

A 28-year-old South African was mauled to death by tigers after robbing a cash desk at the Rhino and Lion Reserve at Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, on 9 March. The man and an accomplice held up an entry kiosk and then ran off in different directions after being chased by an employee. One rushed towards a waiting car, while the other climbed a high fence and found himself in the tigers' den. "They grabbed him and first played with him," said a police spokeswoman. "He died of a broken neck and a fractured skull." The body was removed after the tigers, a male and female, had been sedated. Reuters - 11 March; Gold Coast (Queens land) Bulletin - 12 March 2002.

 

A 62-year-old man choked to death after swallowing a live octopus at his home in Seoul, South Korea. Doctors removed the octopus, which was still alive and clinging to the man's gullet. Live octopus is a popular but often fatal Korean snack - choking six people a year. Mirror - 30 April 2002.

 

A snake managed to escape from the claws of an eagle and fell into a car near Khaf in the Iranian province of Khorassan, where it bit four passengers. Two were killed instantly and two others injured and taken to the local hospital. Khaf is 160 miles (258km) south east of the provincial capital of Mashad. Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) - 30 June 2002.

 

Malaysian snake charmer R Anbarasan, 23, who lost patience with his lazy King Cobra, was killed 21 November when he pulled the snake out of its box and it bit him on the hand. He was performing at a trade fair on the Indonesian island of Batam when his snake took exception to being hurried. AFR; Reuters - 25 November 2002.

 

Natalie Waldinger, 24, a Peace Corps volunteer from Huntingdon, Long Island, was trampled to death by an elephant in Ruaha National Park in central Tanzania on 7 January after she and another American woman left their car to take photographs. The animal was apparently enraged by the clicking sounds of their cameras and charged at the women. Waldinger's friend scrambled to safety. The deadly attack is the first of its kind in the Ruaha park. which has a large number of elephants. NY Post - 10 January; Associated Press - 11 January

 

Two fishermen bled to death in seperate incidents in June 2001 along the Sepik river in north-western Papua New Guinea after having their penises bitten off by pacu fish. The fish are related to piranha and follow urine strams in the water, swimming to its source and then biting it off with razor sharp teeth.

Some believe the killer may be a fish introduced from Brazil in 1994 as a protein substitute, but marine biologist Ian Middleton blamed another pacu species, introduced from Indonesia. "The killer fish have the most human-like teeth on the bottom jaw I have ever seen and quite possibly feed on insects," he said. The Brazilian pacu grow to 44lb (20kg) and have no teeth. Melbourne Herald Sun - 6 July 2001.

 

A German tourist was killed by a giant king bass on the island of Phangan in Thailand last January. It bit chunks from his shoulder, hands and thighs in a frenzied attack. Holidaymakers dragged the screaming man ashore, but he died before help arrived. Police said that bass were fierce predators, but it was unknown for one to attack a human. Mirror - 8 January 2000.

 

A 22-year-old Ugandan man known as Namerya ate live caterpillars, snails, snakes, lizards, butterflies, rats and frogs for a living. He made 60p for each snake. A report in the New Vision newspaper in Kampala said he died after eating a chameleon, when a swelling developed in his mouth. BBC News - 27 April; AFP - 28 April 2000

 

Builder Ian Miller, 55, was cycling along a road near Ayrsgarth in North Yorkshire on 8 May when a pheasant got caught in the spokes of his bicycle. He fell, hit his head on a wall, and died in hospital three days later. Halifax Evening Courier - 19 May 2000.

 

A Chinese fisherman was killed by a two-foot (60cm) long arrowfish when it leapt from the sea and skewed his lungs with its pointed head. The young man from the province of Fujian, was fishing with a lamp from a small boat when the green fish. which has sharp spines and a long sword-like beak, shot out of the water. A fishery official said the fish might have been frightened by the lamp. Daily Telegraph - 27 June 2000.

 

At an evening barbecue in August 1996 an Australian fruit bat alighted on the back of a small child. A young woman picked it off and was bitten on the finger. More than two years later, she died from a rabies-lik illness, the second reported case of bat Lyssavirus in Australia. Information about this emerging threat is scarce, but all bat species in Australia are potential carriers. British Medical Journal - 1 July 2000.

 

A monster catfish said to be 9ft (2.7m) long pulled an angler into a lake and towed him to his death. Anto Schwarz, 45, shouted to his friends that he had hooked a huge one as his rod bent double. After a struggle lasting several minutes, the fish pulled him off balance and Schwarz, entangled in his line and unable to swim, drowned in Eva Maria Lake near Vienna. The huge fish lurking in Austrian lakes and rivers are legendary. Daily Express - 26 July 2000.

 

Jose Rojas Mayarita, 39, hooked a 10ft (3m) blue Marlin off Acapulco. He struggled with it for hours, and as he reeled it in, it leapt and landed on top of him, impaling his stomach with its sword. He drifted in the Pacific for four days until he was spotted by a U.S. helicopter. His pulse was week, but he explained what had happened. Intestinal fluid had leaked into his kidneys and he died of renal failure in hospital on 1 August. Independant - 2 August 2000.

 

A camel herder at Jizan in southern Saudi Arabia paid with his life for beating one of his beasts, the Al-Iqtissadiya newspaper reported. The camel waited all day after the morning beating before trampling the sleeping herder to death and biting his neck. The blood-stained camel was shot dead after the herd's owner found the body. Adelaide Advertiser - 27 September 2000.

 

A 20-year-old Yemeni bride was killed by a Scorpion which a jealous older wife had hidden in the younger woman's wig. Reports from Taiz in south Yemen said the creature was hidden in the hairpeice with the help of a hairdresser. The bride felt the stings as she was dressed to be taken to her future husband's house, but the coiffeur told her the pain was from hair pins. Doctors said she died of 24 stings. Less poison was enough to be fatal. Muslim men are traditionally allowed up to four wives. Melbourne Herald Sun - 13 October 2000.

 

A French hunter was killed by a deer on 14 February in the Loiret region, 50 miles (80km) south of Paris. The 68-year-old pensioner was charged by a stag and gored in the chest. He died instantly. AFP - 15 February 1999

 

A driver in California was killed when a cow smashed through the windscreen of his pick-up truck and hit him on the head. The 750lb (340kg) heifer had wondered on to a road during a storm and was hit by a car. It was hurled into the air and landed on the truck travelling in the other direction. It was then thrown back onto the road and hit by another truck. Reuters - 26 February 1999

 

Mark Anthony McKnight, 19, from the Cardigan area of Wales, fell from his horse and drowned in the fast-flowing River Teifi when a swan swooped low in front of him. The horse was recovered, but paramedics couldn't revive the teenager. Metro (London) - 29 March 1999

 

Thai snake charmer Heiy Kerdchucherd (or Hie Kerdchoochuay), 55, died when a python he had captured from a neighbour's house coiled itself around his neck and strangled him. He was found dead at his home in Uttaradit province, 260 miles (420km) north og Bangkok. Hong Kong Standard; Metro (London) - 5 May 1999

 

A boy was fishing with his father on a lake in central Tolima province, Columbia, on 22 May was pulled into the water by an Anaconda and crushed to death in its embrace. Toronto Star - 25 May 1999

 

A French zoo director was crushed to death on 1 November by a hippopotamus in rut. Jean Ducuing was cycling around the park in Pessac, near Bordeaux, when Komir, a seven-year-old male hippo, charged through an electrified fence after an employee driving a tractor stopped to distribute food. M Ducing, aged in his 60s, had trained Komir. Posters for the zoo feature a picture of Komir with M Ducing's head in his mouth. AFP - 2 November; International Herald tribune - 3 November

 

A woman who kept poisonous snakes, piranhas and other exotic animals has been found dead. Authorities say Anita Finch apparently had been bitten by a rare African gaboon viper that she kept in her Van Nuys trailer. A spokesman for the L-A county coroner says whatever happened, happened very suddenly. Finch was trying to get a job with the Los Angeles Zoo and was an avid snake collector. ABC Newswire (California) / Reuters - 17 December, Associated Press - 18 December

 

Lantod Gumiliu, 32, a member of the Mangyan tribe in the Philippines, was found dead inside a giant python after tribesman found the bloated snake, killed it and cut open its stomach. South China Morning Post - 16 January 1998

 

Felipe Ortiz, 48, fishing in Columbia, cast a line into the teeth of a gale - and suffocated when the bated hook blew back into his throat. Efforts to save him by slapping his back failed. Daily Mail - 17 March 1998

 

Gumilid Lantod was alone in the jungle catching bats on Mindoro Island in the Philippines when a 23ft (7m) python bit him on the foot and squeezed him to death. Pythons can tell when their victims are dead when they can no longer feel a pulse. Then the monster swallowed the 154lb (60kg) man. Friends later found the snake and slit it open, finding the father of six already half digested. About three days later, a two-month-old boy was consumed by a python in the Philippines' Cavite province. Express (Germany) 3 April; [AFP] 7 April 1998

 

A row between rival collectors of bat excrement - a valuable resource used in organic fertiliser - left five dead and two seriously injured after a home-made grenade was tossed into the mouth of a bat cave in the Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima province in Thailand on 2 April. A survivor told police the group was leaving the cave with seven sacks-full when the explosion ripped through them. A rival gang of dungmen was suspected. AFP - 5 April 1998