Snake lover killed by reptile Snake man killed by his cobra

Breeder ... Luke Yeomans with one of his snakes

A SNAKE breeder has been killed by a bite from one of his king cobras - days after he boasted they would not harm him.

Luke Yeomans, 45, had a heart attack in Nottinghamshire after the bite from the deadly reptile injected venom into his bloodstream.

Dad Luke, who was planning to open his king cobra sanctuary of 24 snakes to the public this weekend, had insisted he was perfectly safe handling them.

He posed for a picture while kissing a cobra on the back of the head - despite their fearsome reputation as one of the most dangerous snake breeds.

Luke said: "They know that I provide them with fresh food and water and so they are not going to go out of their way to do harm to me when I do no harm to them whatsoever.

"People do say that I am mad. I think everything I am doing is good. I am maintaining this breeding colony of king cobras as a safety net - to protect the species from possible extinction."

Luke, whose daughter helped him at the sanctuary, had bred the endangered Asian king cobras in Eastwood for 30 years. He was known locally as the Steve Irwin of Eastwood after the Australian TV animal adventurer who was killed by a stingray.

A friend said: "Luke had maybe got a bit cavalier and believed he was invincible to snakes. He handled them without fear and it cost him his life."

Confident ... Luke strokes and kisses one of his snakes

Paramedics found Luke's body at the sanctuary, which was behind his home. Police said the killer snake had been contained and the public were in no danger. A neighbour said: "It's a complete shock. Luke was famous round here for his snakes.

"He'd kept them since a boy and had so much experience handling them. He'd think nothing of picking them up and wrapping them around him.

Face to face ... Luke and friend examine one of the deadly cobras

"It's such a tragedy. He dedicated his life to king cobras and said they would never become extinct as long as his sanctuary lived on." Luke had been bitten by a cobra in the past but had luckily got to hospital before the venom took full effect.

He told an interviewer: "When I got out of my car, I lost my legs and just went. Luckily, there were two nurses waiting for me with a bed."

Luke had 20 adult and four juvenile snakes. He planned to breed 100 more.

The king cobra is the longest of all venomous snakes. A single bite is poisonous enough to kill an elephant.