Saturday 11 October 2014
6 FT SPIDER WEB IS COOL.
Man believes snake spotted in East Grinstead is king cobra which has been eating cats
A MAN who believes he saw a deadly cobra crossing a footpath outside Queen Victoria Hospital fears recent cases of missing cats could be linked to the reptile.
Trevor Gamble, 49, saw a snake outside the hospital on Holtye Road at 11.40am on Sunday morning as he was walking to his home which is on the same road.
Mr Gamble said he “almost earned a Darwin award for inadvertently doing something really stupid” after bending down to get a closer look, not believing at the time it could be dangerous because it was in Britain.
When the snake reared up and “spread what looked like a hood” around its head he suddenly panicked and stood stock still.
He explained: “I’ve got a bit of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) about losing things so I always look behind myself every now and then. I turned around to look back and I saw the snake come onto the path as if it had been waiting for me to pass.”
Mr Gamble then lived up to his name and decided to try and grab the snake by the tail to get a better look at its markings when it reared up and “its head came up to just above my knees”.
He added: “It was swaying there looking right at me; I had my heart in my mouth trying not to breathe. I just held my breath and kept completely still. It was a bit more than an arm’s length away from me, then it just went down and carried on going, obviously deciding I wasn’t a threat.
“That’s when I legged it.”
Mr Gamble described the snake as having a white underside and face with a dark grey body, which is typical of some types of king cobras. The snakes have enough venom in a single bite to bring down an elephant or kill 20 people.
Mr Gamble was so concerned he dialled 999 but was told it wasn’t an emergency so should call 101, the police non-emergency number, which he later did.
Police advised him to contact the RSPCA who passed him on to a company called Proteus Reptile Trust, who deal with the welfare of captive snakes.
Staff there explained they do not deal with snakes spotted in the wild.
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA has since said they were unable to send out an inspector because of a lack of resources meaning they would only do so if they could be directed to the snakes exact location.
Mr Gamble said: I’m just worried because there have been a lot of missing cat posters up in this area recently and I’m thinking maybe they have been dinner for this snake. And I haven’t seen any rats or mice recently either thinking about it."
The RSPCA spokeswoman said: "Because of the volume of calls, our inspectors cannot go out looking for a snake when we don't know where it is but we would ask that if anyone sees it, they could monitor it from a safe distance so we can come out and collect it quickly and take it into safe care.
"As we only have one inspector per 100,000 people and often only one inspector covering a county we do not have the resources to scour the wood looking for a snake.
"In this instance the call was logged as an advice call. We cannot identify snakes over the phone which is why we sometimes ask people to ring other specialised animal welfare organisations."
Mr Gamble said his friends have been somewhat sceptical of his claims. He said: "I told a few friends what I saw and they said 'Trev, had you been drinking?' I said 'no, but I needed a couple of pints afterwards'."
Have you seen the snake around the Holtye Road area? Call our newsdesk on 01737 783860
Read more: http://www.eastgrinsteadcourier.co.uk/Man-believes-snake-spotted-Queen-Victoria-king/story-23034871-detail/story.html#ixzz3FqB4APP1
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Read more at http://www.eastgrinsteadcourier.co.uk/Man-believes-snake-spotted-Queen-Victoria-king/story-23034871-detail/story.html#fCQuGdM3Gfp9QCRs.99
LONELY?
Heard on the radio about people feeling lonely in Devon.Part of this is to in my opinion the following -getting access to transport to get to local groups /clubs the another is we still hang on to the old ways when most of Devon is now full of folk from cities who have a less friendly attitude.
VAMPIRE SLAYING KIT
Sunday 5 October 2014
FILM PROPS FOR SELL.
There is going to be an array of Hollywood props to go under the hammer -October 6.10.2014 .Vue Entertainment and Prop Store Auction,London among the 375 items are stuff from -James bond,star wars,back to the future,terminator,batman and may more.Saturday 4 October 2014
Aids: Origin of pandemic 'was 1920s Kinshasa'
Kinshasa in 1955 Kinshasa, pictured in 1955, was at the centre of the pandemic, scientists say
Continue reading the main story
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The origin of the Aids pandemic has been traced to the 1920s in the city of Kinshasa, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, scientists say.
An international team of scientists say a "perfect storm" of population growth, sex and railways allowed HIV to spread.
A feat of viral archaeology was used to find the pandemic's origin, the team report in the journal Science.
They used archived samples of HIV's genetic code to trace its source, with evidence pointing to 1920s Kinshasa.
Their report says a roaring sex trade, rapid population growth and unsterilised needles used in health clinics probably spread the virus.
Meanwhile Belgium-backed railways had one million people flowing through the city each year, taking the virus to neighbouring regions.
Experts said it was a fascinating insight into the start of the pandemic.
HIV came to global attention in the 1980s and has infected nearly 75 million people.
It has a much longer history in Africa, but where the pandemic started has remained the source of considerable debate.
Family affair
A team at the University of Oxford and the University of Leuven, in Belgium, tried to reconstruct-READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29442642
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