Summer snakes sure to keep catchers busy
Peter Daniel has been in the thick of things.
MEERENSEE appears to be inundated with venomous snakes this summer, and this has kept local snake catchers on their toes responding to SOS calls.
Peter Daniel has been in the thick of things, and last Tuesday he was a little reluctant to attend to a report of a two-metre Mozambican spitting cobra after being hospitalised late last year after a bite from a similar species.
However, when he got to the Garrick Rise address the intruder proved to be a massive 2.3m forest cobra.
‘The owner had been keeping an eye on it and when I arrived he told me he had opened the front door and come face-to-face with the serpent, which immediately made a hood before escaping into a dark corner.
‘There it was curled up and I was able to capture it with little resistance, apart from when it wrapped its tail around a metal lampstand and pulled it over, knocking my torch out of my hand and leaving us all in darkness for a while.’
It was back to business in Meerensee the following morning as Peter attended to a 1.45m green mamba at a home in Sole Sands.
Again it proved another safe and easy catch – but definitely not one that amateurs should attempt.
