Cape Town - As spring approaches, the Western Cape’s snakes are waking up and taking notice.
The SPCA says it is starting to get calls from residents who have spotted snakes on their properties.
Shaun MacLeod, co-ordinator of the Western Cape Snake Rescue Volunteer Team, said that in the past 11 days he had recovered a Cape cobra from Door de Kraal in Bellville and a puff adder from a Llandudno garden.
Brett Glasby, of the SPCA Wildlife Unit, said if people spotted a snake they should call the SPCA immediately. They should also keep an eye on it so that it could be found when the experts arrived to remove it.
Children and pets should be kept well clear. If a person or pet was attacked, they should be taken for emergency medical attention.
“Often if people are bitten by a snake they think they need to bring the snake to the hospital so that doctors can tell which snake it is. This is not necessary.”
Glasby said most of the province’s snakes were harmless, but the Cape cobra, puff adder and boomslang were highly venomous. Non-venomous snakes include the rhombic egg eater, the mole snake and olive house snake.
People should not kill snakes, even poisonous ones, he said. People did not realise that even if you decapitated a poisonous snake, the head could still bite for up to 30 minutes after it had been severed.
MacLeod said people should leave snakes alone, because interfering could cause them to attack in self-defence.
“Unless you know your snakes, there is no way to identify if a snake is venomous or not. So if you don’t know what it is, leave it alone.”
If you encounter a snake, contact the SPCA on 021 700 4158/59 or after hours on 083 326 1604. Alternatively contact a registered snake catcher. - Cape Argus