TRAGIC LOSS What happened to Graham Dingo
Dinkelman and how did the snake handler
and YouTuber die?
The Sun (UK),
by
Jimmy Grant
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
10/29/2024 7:08:50 AM
GRAHAM "Dingo" Dinkelman was a renowned South African wildlife conservationist, snake handler and broadcaster. The popular YouTuber tragically passed away on October 28, 2024, following a month-long battle in hospital. His death was the result of complications from a venomous snake bite he sustained while working with reptiles, a field he was deeply passionate about.
Dubbed the 'South African Steve Irwin', Dingo had amassed more than 100,000 YouTube subscribers and over 600,000 Instagram followers at the time of his passing. Graham Dinkelman was born on June 15, 1980, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
From a young age he displayed a keen interest in wildlife, particularly reptiles.
He attended Maritzburg College,
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
Hazymac 10/29/2024 7:34:09 AM (No. 1822000)
Ultimately, Dinkelman couldn't survive the bite from a green mamba, one of at least four species of mamba in Africa (black mamba, green mamba, western green mamba, Jameson's mamba with two subspecies). All mambas are highly venomous. The black mamba, the second longest venomous snake in the world (up to 14.8 feet), has the worst venom of the mambas, but the other mambas are just about as bad. The green mamba isn't as quite deadly as the black mamba, but it's close enough for horseshoes or hand grenades. The former could kill you in twenty minutes; the latter in perhaps thirty. Is that a significant difference? Not for me. I'm so sorry for Dingo's family. I've watched many of his videos and didn't expect this outcome. Rest in peace.
In South Carolina a private snake collector named Jeffrey Liebowitz, who had 14 exotic venomous snakes in his house, recently bought a young (about a foot and a half long) Australian inland taipan aka fierce snake, the deadliest land snake in the world, and posted videos of him handling the small snake by its middle, a big no-no. Leibowitz took a bite last month, and is not out of the woods yet, possibly needing a kidney transplant. If the snake had been larger, it would have delivered a fatal dose. Antivenin might have saved his life, but we don't know yet. Other snake collectors are angry that a couple of doofuses like Liebowitz are going to get possession of exotic snakes outlawed. I think things like cobras, mambas, taipans, etc. should be kept at zoos, not people's homes.
32 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
BeatleJeff 10/29/2024 8:08:50 AM (No. 1822037)
Dirty Harry famously said "a man's gotta know his limitations." Mr Dinkelman knew his limitations but obviously didn't care. Eventually that attitude will catch up with you. Best you can say is that he died doing what he loved.
8 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
M-79 10/29/2024 8:18:18 AM (No. 1822040)
Hang around with snakes and you're going to get bit.
Democrats should remember that.
12 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
3XALADY 10/29/2024 9:11:10 AM (No. 1822082)
Re #1's post about having snakes in private homes. An area of our country just suffered a devastating loss of homes because of storms. What if someone living in that area had had a snake collection in their home and it got washed away. I agree with poster's last comment.
14 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
red1066 10/29/2024 9:25:50 AM (No. 1822096)
Private ownership of poisonous snakes should outlawed. Look at south Florida and the Everglades. There are thousands of snakes now roaming and breeding in south Florida mostly in the Everglades that could kill humans, and these aren't even poisonous snakes. It was all started by people who once owned these snakes as pets and then let them go once became too big handle or house.
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Hazymac 10/29/2024 10:01:44 AM (No. 1822124)
Here's a bit more information from last month, including an inventory of Liebowitz's "pets" which were collected by authorities and euthanized. Here's the list. Green Mamba, Gaboon Vipers (2), Fer-de-Lance, Death Adder, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, Black Forest Cobras, Unknown Rattlesnakes (2), Neotropical Rattlesnakes (2), Unknown small Rattlesnake, Inland Taipan (1). Every snake on that list is bad news if you're bitten. The unknown rattlesnakes, I would bet, are probably Western USA species like the Mojave Green rattlesnake, the Tiger rattlesnake (both with powerful neurotoxic venom), and the Southern Pacific rattlesnake near LA. The eastern diamondback is the largest rattlesnake in all the Americas, can grow to 8'6" (one of which I have seen in the wild in 1983--the hair on the back of my neck stood up; what an awesome sight; he was crawling across a cart path and I mentally marked and measured with a 43" driver club where his head and tail had just been; two clublengths plus 16 inches; he was 102" or eight-six), and in some parts of Florida are known to have evolved neurotoxins to go along with the hemotoxins in their venom. Only trained professional herpetologists should handle any types of venomous snakes, especially the bad ones in Liebowitz's possession. And #4 is correct that during bad Cat 5 storms such as 1992's Hurricane Andrew, even some zoos were breached and snakes, lizards, and other animals got out. Many have thrived. That's one source of the Burmese pythons in South Florida today. I would not want to live near a collector of venomous snakes. It would not make my day to meet a spectacled cobra (naja naja) in my driveway.
https://www.fitsnews.com/2024/09/10/south-carolina-venomous-snake-bite-update/
An aside: Ron Ely, a 1970 vintage Tarzan, recently passed away (RIP). Mad Magazine did a spoof of Ron's Tarzan in which Tarzan said out loud to all his jungle friends, "I am a friend of all animals!" The nearby cobra said, "Boo, hiss!" Tarzan replied, " ... Except the mongoose!" Cobra: "Yayyyy!"
7 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
nerdowell 10/29/2024 10:52:54 AM (No. 1822150)
There's something seriously wrong with these collectors of exotic venomous snakes.
First of all, it's abominable to feed warm blooded creatures to mindless reptiles, but hat's no problem for them.
Secondly they become obsessed; even after being bitten and spending months and 1/2 a million dollars--covered by insurance premiums and public funding--recovering, they can't stop themselves.
Even the knowledge that most treated with antivenom develop a deadly allergy afterwards can't compel them to cease their idiocy.
Their supposed love for these "amazing creatures" is suspect. They don't love their cold, soul-less tubes of autonomic reactions; nobody can. What they really love is the adrenaline rush they get every time they pick one up. It's an addiction.
And yes, their pets get out and can bite innocent neighbors. And no, hospitals don't typically stock the variety of antivenoms in a quantity needed if one of these exotic treasures sinks its fangs into an innocent.
At the very least, they need to be forced to insure the well being of their neighbors in the event of such a disaster--including stocks of antivenom sufficient to treat a victim.
Their personal freedom stops at my property line and my pocket, and they're well passed that point.
10 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
snakeoil 10/29/2024 10:52:55 AM (No. 1822151)
Snakes are the reason God invented the hoe.
10 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
sanspeur 10/29/2024 11:01:36 AM (No. 1822154)
#8 , in some cases the snake is a hoe .
5 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
FLCracker 10/29/2024 11:04:38 AM (No. 1822155)
#6, I don't blame just Cat 5 hurricanes, I blame sellers and owners of exotic and dangerous animals of all kinds. Nobody is checking who has what and are they safely contained.
I had two close relatives you were among the above. One's 5-foot rainbow boa escaped and was never seen again. (We lived on a canal. Maybe the alligator got it.) One told the story of the boa that escaped his store and got into the ceiling space of the strip center where his shop was located. He found it hanging out of a vent in the kitchen of the Chinese restaurant a couple of businesses down. (I'd sue.)
One kept a "pet" rattlesnake at my mother's house. (Mom, what were you thinking?!) The other had exotic poisonous snakes, "but for display only." Lucky one of them didn't visit the restaurant. (Not my relative, but I visited a pet store that had a 19 1/2-foot King Cobra in a case about 4-foot by 3 1/2-foot with a thin (3/8"?) glass or plexi front on it. You could stand right up next to the glass.)
And then there was Mandy, the mountain lion, who lived in a screened enclosure in the unfenced backyard of a house I passed, walking to and from school. (I wonder what they did with her during hurricanes. Our illegal monkey had a "travel cage" and we brought her in the house during inclement weather. THIS upset my mother.)
And cane toads in the canal. (Maybe the boa ate one.)
5 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
FLCracker 10/29/2024 11:06:16 AM (No. 1822156)
OMG! Re-reading my post, I realize I am the female version of "Florida Man"!
6 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 10/29/2024 11:56:13 AM (No. 1822177)
When I was hunting in South Africa, the professional hunter (PH, a highky qualified hunting guide) pointed out a track in the sand, and said it was a black mamba. He borrowed my rifle to go after it, and I took my .44 Magnum pistol and went with him. He warned that they are very fast, very aggressive and will attack at some distance. He said "You better not miss"
We followed the slither path for about a hundred yards until it went into a termite mound, apparently where it stayed.
Very dangerous snakes. Dealing with them is extremely dangerous. Never heard of this guy but I have to wonder if the quality of health care in RSA is still up to where it used to be, which was truly world class. I can't believe that health care hasn't suffered when the Communists took over.
5 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
FLCracker 10/29/2024 12:43:30 PM (No. 1822222)
#12, I read a quote about mambas once upon a time that said, "Mambas aren't really aggressive they are just very excitable."
I think it was in the book, "Dangerous to Man?" by Roger A. Caras. Great book.
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
lynngirl122 10/29/2024 12:44:44 PM (No. 1822224)
Homeowners insurance company might be interested in his collection.
3 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 10/29/2024 12:51:56 PM (No. 1822228)
#14 is correct. As a former agent, I would not like to insure someone keeping venomous snakes in their house and if the insurance company were to find out, a cancellation would follow.
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Schnapps 10/29/2024 1:27:45 PM (No. 1822245)
Having seen both green and black mambas I fear the green more because they hang out in trees and are almost invisible. We encountered a black mamba while hiking in Natal many years back and killed it with sticks after it put up a good fight. We burned the body to make sure it was dead.
1 person likes this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Schnapps 10/29/2024 1:51:11 PM (No. 1822264)
Notwithstanding all the discussion of mambas, the snake in the picture looks like a Cape cobra -just as deadly. According to the reports it was a cobra that caused Dinkelman's demise..
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Hazymac 10/29/2024 2:37:33 PM (No. 1822297)
One more reply. The video below shows Dingo with a rather tetchy green mamba, reportedly the species of snake whose bite caused him to go into anaphylactic shock. He handled a lot of deadly ones. One of them got him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9hIYYbYnQ8
Unless they're unlucky and step on one, those who get bitten by venomous snakes are usually trying to 1.) kill the snake, or 2.) catch the snake. Once while playing golf with three of my pastors in Tampa, we encountered a small dark banded, fat snake on a cart path, which I immediately recognized as a pygmy rattlesnake. It was full grown, about two feet, with a very small rattle and the telltale triangular head. Beautiful adult specimen. A homeowner standing right there in his back yard and my head pastor in the cart with me wanted me to kill it immediately after I identified it. Instead I took out my Arnold Palmer Original putter and very, very gently placed the clubhead under the middle of the pygmy's body, slowly picked up the snake on the putterhead--they'll balance--gingerly walked him over to a creek with high grass around it, and gently dropped him in. I didn't try to handle the little rattler; I just saved him from an unnecessary death. The golf course is his home, too. Like Steve Irwin and Dingo Dinkelman, I'm fascinated by serpents, although I prefer to observe from a distance. I was in no danger at any time of being bitten by that little snake--he never rattled at me--but if he had bitten me, it would have quite bad. Would have ruined my week for sure.
#10-11 may be Florida Woman, but after my highjinks in the middle '80s, I'm Florida Man. On two occasions I grabbed two large gators (10' and 12' with their heads on the lake's edge and their tails on land) by the tail with both hands, yanked, and really p.o.'d the gators. Did I ever do it again after that? Nope. Would I? Nope. Plumb crazy. But every now and then you feel that idiotic urge and give in to it. Unless you die, it's a part of life.
2 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
FLCracker 10/29/2024 6:31:19 PM (No. 1822399)
#18, Someday, I'm going to make a list of idiot things I have done where, if things had gone slightly differently, I wouldn't be typing this.
1 person likes this.
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