This story was first published on March 22nd, 2011
Outline
Long circulated message claims that an attached photograph shows Bronson, a black Labrador Retriever with a deadly copperhead snake wrapped around his snout.
Brief Analysis
The claims in the message are true and the photograph is genuine. Bronson’s encounter with the snake took place in January 2010.
Example
Subject: FW: Black Lab Comes Home With Deadly Snake Around His Snout
You’re never too old to do something stupid
Black Lab Comes Home With Deadly Snake Wrapped Around His Snout
Bronson is a retriever Extraordinaire.
Ducks are his specialty, and sometimes cell phones and other out-of-place odds and ends.
But this 11-year-old black lab recently came up to his owners with a startling quarry; A deadly copperhead snake. As you can see by the photo, the snake was coiled around his snout.
The snake’s head appears to be clamped firmly in Bronson’s mouth and Bronson looks rather forlorn at his predicament. This Australian dog was lucky his owners, Deborah and Peter Allen were home when he arrived with his frightening muzzle. While they quickly tried to figure out what to do, Deborah grabbed a camera and snapped this shot to document the event.
Image credit: Deborah Allen
Detailed Analysis
This message, which discusses labrador retriever, Bronson’s encounter with a venomous copperhead snake, circulates via email and has also been posted to many blogs and online forums.
The message includes a photograph of Bronson after he returned home with the deadly reptile coiled around his snout. The circulating message was originally posted on the Dogstar blog.
The information in the message is true and the photograph is genuine. Bronson’s adventure took place back in January 2010 near Yarragon, in the Australian state of Victoria. A January 18, 2010, Herald Sun article about Bronson confirms the information in the message, noting:
HE’S never had a nose for trouble before but black labrador Bronson sure knows how to turn heads with his retrieving tricks.
The champion obedience dog stunned his Victorian owners when he recently returned to them to proudly show off his latest find.
Locked firmly in his jaws and coiled around his snout was a long, live snake, believed to be a deadly copperhead.
Bronson was bitten by the snake during his encounter. However, the Herald Sun article notes that he recovered fully and returned home after four days in the hospital.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
