GARDENER BITES SNAKE TO DEATH

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- It is not news when a snake bites a man but it
is so when a man bites a snake.

Gardener Ramesh Jamda made news last Saturday when he did just that - bite a
snake.

The 25-year-old from the eastern coastal state of Orissa's capital
Bhubaneswar, angered by a snake which bit one of his thumbs, chewed part of the
reptile in retaliation.

Ramesh was on his morning routine mowing grass at a park in the city on
Saturday morning when a foot-long rat snake started to nibble one of his thumbs,
the Telegraph newspaper reported Monday.

Ramesh felt a sharp pain in his thumb, only to discover that the snake was
attacking it.

Writhing in pain, the gardener tried to shake off the snake but it continued
to dig its fangs deeper into his flesh.

According to the newspaper, he used a pair of scissors to remove the snake,
and the reptile slipped off.

Fuming in anger, he grabbed the snake and bit it from its tail upwards.

"The young man had torn and chewed two-thirds of the snake in his fury. A
few minutes after the act, queasiness set in and, after vomiting a few times,
Ramesh fainted," reported the newspaper.

"I was angry when the snake bit me on my finger. I bit it back because that
was my way of taking revenge," Ramesh told doctors after regaining
consciousness.

His condition is stable. The snake is dead.
-- BERNAMA