ASI Newsletter - December 2019 

Snake Removal

We’ve had a phenomenal year, with thousands of delegates attending both our hugely popular public Snake Awareness and Venomous Snake Handling courses throughout South Africa, as well as our corporate on-site training sessions throughout Africa. We’ve trained at mines, solar plants, wind farms, game lodges, national parks, airports as well as training a large number of environmental officials who deal with law enforcement and anti-poaching.

The average snake bite in Southern Africa costs around R100 000.00 to treat, and taking a risk when removing snakes can have devastating results – this is largely why throughout our training we always emphasize safety.

Stiletto Snake bite - photo Myke Clarkson 

In our courses we teach the correct procedures to ensure safe snake removal – both for the remover, and for the snake. These procedures have been developed over several years and when followed, ensure minimal risk to the snake and the remover. We make use of tried and tested equipment (not cheap Chinese imports) and by using the correct procedures and equipment, many of the delegates that we train go on to remove and relocate dozens of snakes safely.

One of the most important things we teach on our Snake Awareness, First Aid for Snakebite and Venomous Snake Handling courses is the no-hands-on approach. Making physical contact with the snake is hardly ever required and greatly increases one’s chances of being bitten.

There is no compromise when it comes to safety duing snake handling. 

Another important aspect of snake removal, be it on-site or at a private residence, is crowd control. Making sure pets and people are not in the immediate area is vital to a safe removal. Having a crowd of people screaming and shouting in the background can be a huge distraction to a snake remover and also often makes them more nervous.

Crowd control is vital when it comes to snake removals. 

Having patience when it comes to snake removals is vital, but the bottom line is you want to spend as little time with the snake as possible. Some people like to play with the snakes, raking them to tire them out and just generally showing off - sadly there is a lot of ego involved when it comes to dealing with snakes. The less time you spend with a snake on a removal – the less likely a chance of a bite is and the less stress you put on the animal.

In most provinces, having a catch and release permit is required by law for anyone who wants to remove and relocate snakes. We happily assist our delegates with obtaining such documentation so that they can do snake removals legally. Those who have permits need to keep a catch and release log which must be submitted to nature conservation annually. And it’s also a great idea to take a short video clip or photographs of the snake being released.

We see a lot of images of well-meaning folks feeding snakes they’ve caught prior to release. Feeding wild caught snakes is generally not necessary and can introduce all sorts of diseases and parasites from the prey animal, which the snake would not be used to. 

Ideally you want to release the snake on the day that it’s been caught – during the day if it’s a diurnal species or at night if it’s nocturnal. Finding suitable habitat within a 2- 10km radius can be tricky, but is mostly possible with a bit of effort. Also check the permit requirements – some provincial authorities stipulate where snakes may be released. 

Don’t release snakes next to roads, or populated areas where people live – this is a death sentence. We’re also seeing a lot of videos of snakes being released into the water at dams, which doesnt give the snake much vegetation to hide in. 

Southern African Python hiding in thick grass.

Much has been said about how many rescued snakes survive and the few studies that have been conducted overseas have varying results. In some studies, the survival rate of released snakes is very low but the sample sizes are often small and relate to specific species. No such studies have been conducted on the survival rates of released Southern African snakes. In India, some rescuers remove King Cobras from villages and release them the moment they are out of view of the villagers as these snakes have a home range and know the area well. This may well apply to many of our snakes as well.

One also needs to consider suitable habitat and the carrying capacity of such habitat. One could argue that a specific farm has enough habitat for 50 Puff Adders and if more are introduced there will not be enough food and shelter. In the same way, if 10 of those Puff Adders are removed, there will be suitable habitat for another 10. As mentioned, we do not have good data at this stage and until further research is done, we fully support the capture and relocation of problem snakes.

Snakes should not be captured and released hundreds of kilometres from where they were found, even if it is still well within the range of the snake. We are learning more and more about snake genetics and it is important to also preserve genetic purity and not contaminate populations elsewhere with genes from snakes that are not from that area.

Photographic records of snakes from specific areas greatly contribute to our knowledge of snake distribution. If you do happen to remove a problem snake, please take photographs and share them with us – you can eMail such photographs to snakes@asiorg.co.za with information of where it was found or you can upload it onto our Facebook page, African Snakebite Institute.

The African Snakebite Institute will be closing for the festive season on the 13^th December, and will be reopening on the 6^th January.
Lastly, we’d like to say a word of thanks to our subscribers for their loyalty and support during this year and we wish you a cheerful festive season and a prosperous 2020.

Our latest video on the Twig Snake is now online! Check it out here.