WATCH | Family mourn wildlife warrior Rico Pentz, Cape father of three bitten by snake

“A brilliant and beautiful terrorist for the animal world.”

These are the words of widow Eva Freedom while she holds onto the memories of her husband, well-known Helderberg snake and wildlife rescuer Rico Pentz, who died after being bitten by a cobra. He had survived two previous snake bites. He died in her arms.

"Rico was a marshmallow wearing Deadpool armour," his mother Rosa Steenkamp told TimesLIVE.

"He loved his family more than anything in this world. Rico always wanted to help everything and everyone. He was very protective, to the extreme, over his loved ones and animals — that is any animal. He climbed into drains, on roofs, trees, up poles, under fences, over walls. No matter what was needed, nothing was too difficult for him to save an animal."

Pentz, 39, did educational shows for Eagle Encounters and started Helderberg Wildlife Rescue.

He was bitten by his pet snouted cobra during feeding in a freak accident on January 17, his mother said.

He was rushed to Vergelegen Mediclinic where he was monitored according to protocol and received eight vials of polyvalent anti-venom used to treat bites by snouted cobras, Steenkamp said.

After he had stabilised, he was moved to the high-care ward where he continued to receive treatment but was transferred to the ICU unit at Tygerberg Hospital on January 19 as he did not have insurance to cover the medical costs. The hospital  has specialists in toxin treatments.

"He was in good spirits, though in excruciating pain, when we left the hospital on Friday afternoon. On Saturday afternoon when we were allowed to visit him at 3pm, we were shocked to see him in an incoherent and critical state," said Steenkamp.

Pentz insisted on seeing Eva, who visited him on Saturday evening with a family friend and cracked a few jokes with him.

Rosa called the hospital at 7am on January 21 and was told his condition was unchanged. However, later that morning they were told to come to the hospital as he was "taking a turn for the worse".

"When we got there, Rico was in a comatose state and on a ventilator. We were told there was nothing more they could do for him.

“We kept on talking to him, asking him to fight and saying we need him. Eva was embracing him and talking in his ear when his heart stopped.

“It was so unreal. It still feels unreal,” said Steenkamp.

Pentz was bitten by a puff adder in May 2022 during a rescue call. He received anti-venom and survived the incident.

His mother said: "It could be that his body had an immune reaction to the anti-venom, possibly because only 20 months passed since his previous bite by a puff adder. The snake venom specialists referred to Rico’s case as a special case and they were baffled why his body did not react to the anti-venom."

Pentz was also bitten by a snake in 2018, which required a skin graft on his arm and extensive treatment.

He leaves behind his wife and three daughters Galaya-Skye, Jeriah-Storm and Katurah-Deluge, his mother, father Peter Pentz who lives in the US, and siblings Jacqueline, Mark, Martin Jnr and Marlize.

His memorial service will be held on Wednesday at the Strand city hall.

TimesLIVE