Provoking a cobra with a canteen on a string

From BearWiki

Claim: There's no need to provoke poisonous snakes. Just leave them alone.

In the Sahara Desert episode, Bear advocates dealing with an encounter with a cobra by dangling a canteen on a string at it. This is counterproductive. Almost all snakes would rather have nothing to do with you.[1][2][3] Unless your plan is to eat it, simply leave it alone. The fastest snake (the black mamba) is still slower than a human, and would almost always rather avoid a fight.[4]

[edit] Analysis

Oppose: Firstly, Bear stated in the episode that they had the snake flown in just to talk about it on the show. Although there's no logical reason to dangle a canteen in front of any snake he was only demonstrating the quickness and length of the snakes strike. And as for the Black Mamba; they have been stated to strike without provocation: In fact, many snake experts have cited the black mamba as the world's most aggressive snake, noting tendency to actively attack without provocation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_mamba)

Support: Hmm, Wikipedia link to dead site "zoocheck" that says "some snakes are reputed to be aggressive" via indirect reference to a paper that doesn't turn up on any web search versus four direct references (and plenty more if you want them). Hmm, which one to believe?

Whether or not it was flown in isn't being debated on this page. By the way, did you notice how the snake looked injured?

Oppose: Whether or not it was flown in isn't being debated on this page, however whether you should provoke a cobra or not is. Bear stated that you should back away, and he was only doing it to show the speed and length of the snake. By the way, the snake did not and does not look injured to me before I read your question and after I watched the show to take a second look.

Support: You're kidding, right? The snake's snout look battered and raw, as if it had been repeatedly striking a hard object.

Oppose: Like a mouse?

Support: Since when are mice "hard objects"?

Neutral: Since when are you an expert in serpentine head traumas? If you have credentials that support your evaluation on the 'battered and raw' snake, or first- or second-hand testimony about the state of the snake, then cite it. If not, spouting vague speculations doesn't really shed any further light on this particular 'canteen on a string' issue.

Neutral: People do not need to be experts in highly specialized fields to make common sense observations, as has already been done on both sides of this issue.