A 76-year old man in Costa Rica was rushed to the hospital after he confronted a dangerous fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox) snake that had killed its livestock. The incident occurred in Grifo Bajo, a small farming community in the canton of Puriscal, province of San Jose.

During his entire life, Porfirio Gomez Quesada has earned his keep as a labriego (family farmer). He is quite fond of raising livestock, and he recently acquired a few bovine calves and adult cows. In the last two weeks, however, three of them turned up dead after being bitten by a fer-de-lance.

Don Porfirio was naturally afflicted after learning about the loss of the first animal, and he took measures to prevent his cattle from coming near the brushy area where the venomous pit viper was believed to be keeping its nest. The fer-de-lance, however, was actually coming out of the bushes to attack the cows. After the ophidian claimed the life of a third cow, however, Don Porfirio was consumed by anger.

Looking to prevent further cattle loss and thirsty for revenge, Don Porfirio marched into the bushes looking for the terciopelo. He was armed with a machete.

Don Porfirio finally found the snake nest and unleashed his wrath. The fer-de-lance applied the only survival skill it possesses: Striking. This ophidian vs. human duel ended up with the reptile hacked to pieces, but not before it had managed to deliver a single bite to Don Porfirio’s left leg.

Relatives drove Don Porfirio to a small public health clinic in Puriscal, where a Red Cross ambulance was dispatched to take him to the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Downtown San Jose.

The idea of an old man in Costa Rica taking on a fer-de-lance begs to be questioned. Speaking to tabloid newspaper La Teja, one of Don Porfirio’s granddaughters explained that:

[My grandfather] “has always been a resolute and stubborn man. When something gets into his head, no one can talk him out of it.”

Confronting a fer-de-lance is, of course, a bad idea. As previously reported in the Costa Rica Star, the green season makes these reptiles confused and nervous; the strong rains fall during their reproductive season, and in recent years they face an overabundance of food sources due to nature conservation efforts in Costa Rica. Fer-de-lances do not possess intellectual acuity and will strike at anything that crosses their path. There is plenty of anti-venom in Costa Rica to treat snake bites; even veterinarian clinics carry antidote processed from coral snakes that can save the lives of dogs and other domestic animals.

Don Porfirio insisted on transporting the butchered remains of the fer-de-lance along to the hospital to show as a trophy.