“Pete Bethune is a conservationist, ripped right out of an action movie. He’s stopped whalers out in the Pacific Ocean. He rescued a dolphin held captive in an Indonesian resort. And he’s been stabbed not once, but twice. Recently, this work brought Pete to Costa Rica where his luck almost ran out. Pete was deep in the rainforest with his team, and they were looking for evidence of illegal logging and hunting. While Pete was walking very carefully, he was bit on the back of the leg by a fer-de-lance, or spearhead, snake. It’s the most deadly snake in Central America. He knew that if he didn’t receive medical attention within six hours… he would die.

After trudging through the thick brush, Pete was able to make it to a hospital, where he was given snake antivenom. It raced through his body neutralizing the toxins, and within a few hours, it was clear that it had worked, and that Pete was going to survive. Pete was incredibly lucky, but many people around the world are not. More than 100,000 people die every year from snake bites…”

Original Air Date: March 30, 2021

Science Vs is a production of Gimlet, a Spotify company