Seventeen people died from a snakebite during an AD interview with Freek Vonk. The animal lover is very shocked and is working to prevent this in the future.
Freek Vonk is best known for television, but he is also active as a scientist and affiliated with Naturalis in Leiden. He is currently working on snake venom. “Our research focuses on better understanding the chemical composition of snake venom and on new treatments for snake bites.”
Seventeen dead
The importance of this is great, says Freek in an interview with the AD magazine Mezza. “Do you have any idea how many people die every year from a snakebite?”
The interviewer on duty makes a guess: “Eh, 50,000?”
She is wrong, according to Freek. “No, about 150,000. This means that approximately seventeen people died during this interview alone.”
Permanent injury
Wow, seventeen deaths during such an interview. That’s quite a lot! “And I’m not even talking about the people who do survive, but suffer permanent damage to organs, limbs, nerves and eyes. Snakebites are a cause and effect of poverty. Most victims live far from civilization.”
Freeks’ intention is to prevent the high number of snake deaths and that is why he is working on a solution. Isn’t he actually afraid of a bite? He has a two-meter monitor lizard at home. “I’ve known him for so long, he would never bite me,” concludes the animal lover.