Snake Catcher Nick Evans caught a 2.75m Black Mamba in a Township and used the moment to educate the residents about the importance of snakes.
A fear of snakes is one of the most common phobia’s in the world, the fear plagues 54% of the world’s adult population. Nick Evans a snake catcher from the KwaZulu-Natal Amphibian and Reptile Conservation group was called to a Township outside of Chatsworth in KwaZulu-Natal, to catch a Black Mamba that had slithered its way into one of the residents homes.
Nick was taken to the home in which the snake was last seen. The home owner feared that it was a Black Mamba which was why he had called the conservation group.
“He lead me to the property, and when we arrived, I noticed a large crowd had gathered. Snakes always cause great excitement!”
“I walked in, and what hit me straight away was the intense heat! It felt like I had just walked into an oven! The house had been baking in scorching sun, on a day where temperatures had neared 40C in Durban, plus high humidity! The snake certainly wouldn’t be lethargic.”
Nick spent a good few moments trying to figure out where the snake had gone to. Using his knowledge of the snakes behaviour he checked under the bed. Slowly removing the items stored underneath it.
“I started pulling the bags out, no sign of it. Then, I moved a large suitcase. As I pulled it towards me, a head popped around the side. “Got it!”, I shouted. It was a Black Mamba, as he had thought. Yes!!
As I pulled the suitcase right out, and I saw the body coiled up. It looked pretty big!”
After some time and a small struggle, Nick managed to capture the snake which he guessed was about 2.5m long. The snake was thick and very healthy looking.
“I walked outside with my pride and joy, to show the large crowd. They were all screaming, some with fear, but most with excitement.”
Nick used the moment to discuss why the snake had come into their area and why it was important not to kill the snakes. The snakes are attracted to the rats in the area and would never attack humans unprovoked. They do the community a great service by eating the rats, removing the vermin means less chance of spreading disease and food supplies go unspoiled.
The community was very excited to see and touch the snake, they agreed to call the conservation programme next time a snake is spotted. Nick was really excited about the teachable moment and impressed with the snake itself.
“It turned out to be a huge girl, measuring out at 2.75m long! The biggest Black Mamba that I’ve ever caught! It was so powerful and well built too! An incredible awe-inspiring giant! We gave inserted a tiny ID tag, as part of an ongoing project, and released her on the weekend.”
The Black Mamba is a venomous snake and should always be handled by a professional snake catcher. Despite its reputation for being formidable and highly aggressive, like most snakes, it usually attempts to flee from humans unless threatened or cornered.
Rescues like this are self funded and the conservation organisation relies on donations for their conservation projects. If you would like to help out you can contact them here. They use the funding to rescue snakes in rural area’s and educate communities about snakes.
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