There are still people who believe they can save a snakebite victim by sucking the venom from the bite wound and spitting it out.

When a woman from Yuanyang County, Yunnan province, China, did that to her farmer husband after he was bitten on the finger by a cobra, she was poisoned and hospitalized along with him.

Doctors at Honghe Prefecture No. 3 People’s Hospital treated the couple by injecting them with antivenom serum, the South China Morning Post reported.

The couple eventually recovered and were discharged. Doctors warned that sucking venom from a snakebite wound, which the woman saw on television and did to her husband, can poison the rescuer.

They also said that cutting a snakebite wound to make it bleed and flush out the venom can lead to blood loss or infection. Heating or applying ice to the wound should also be avoided, they added.

Meanwhile, the unusual discovery of a large snake at the base of a mountain in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, in March 2024 sparked a lengthy police investigation to find its suspected breeder.

After a professional snake raiser told police that breeding such reptiles requires heavy electricity consumption to maintain a humid and warm environment suitable for the animals, investigators examined the power consumption of nearby residents.

Ultimately, a jobless, single man surnamed Guo, who lived alone, was identified as a suspect. Further raising suspicion was his regular visitor, identified as Di, who picked up parcels containing mice ordered online.

Another piece of incriminating evidence against Guo was photographs of pythons that he posted on social media, with hints that he was selling them.

When police raided Guo’s apartment, they found stacks of plastic boxes containing pythons, confirming he was breeding them in violation of wildlife protection laws.

Local media reported in late June the raid, the arrest of Guo and Di, and the seizure of 309 pythons that they were illegally breeding in the apartment and selling.

Also arrested was Deng, who sold four snakes to Guo in 2014, kick-starting his clandestine snake business.