THE first half of 2021 has been a busy year for snake rescuer Nick Evans who is often called out to different areas to rescue a variety of snakes in and around Durban.
Here are some of Evans’s memorable python discoveries and rescues since the beginning of the year:
In his most recent find posted on Facebook on Monday, Evans said while wondering through a wetland the week before with his friend Richard Mckibbin, they spotted a large python a few metres away from them.
He said they quickly climbed a nearby fig tree and peered down at the python which was about 3.5m in length.
“It was truly a sight to behold. She looked around 3.5m, with gorgeous colours,” he said.
While the duo could have sat and watched the python the whole day, they decided to leave and not disturb her further.
“We have both seen many pythons, but we agreed that this was one of our most memorable,” said Evans.
Earlier in June, Evans was called out to rescue a python in Inanda. Upon arrival he discovered the snake was in a hole 5m away from where he had caught a python in 2018.
He managed to grab the 2.5m python’s head with tongs and the snake was pulled out with not much hassle.
In April, a resident from the Osindisweni area near Verulam called Evans explaining he had managed to convince a neighbour not to eat a python he had caught.
He said he was also informed that when the herder caught the snake she had been lying on eggs.
The python which measured in at around 3.5m was rescued with her eggs and was taken to Dangerous Creatures at Ushaka Marine World for treatment and food.
In the middle of March a woman from a rural area west of Durban asked Evans to come and rescue a large python which the community had captured.
Together with his friend Duncan Slabbert they went to the area where they found the snake being contained inside a crate and it appeared to have been beaten.
Evans said while they rescue snakes and do not buy them, as they are released back into the wild, Slabbert was forced to give the community R50.
“I rescue many snakes from rural areas, and meet some wonderful communities, who are extremely helpful. In fact, successful rural calls are my favourite.This was just one bad experience,” he said.
In February, Evans said he received a call from an Inanda resident who had a large python eating a puppy inside his house.
The python was 2.6m long and weighed 6.45kg.
“In my opinion, from my personal observations, there is very little wild food for pythons. However, there are a lot of domestic prey items. Almost every python I have caught in Inanda has been eating chickens. They love chickens. There's also many young goats, and, as mentioned, many dogs.”
Earlier that month, Evans rescued a 4m long python which weighed 27.6kg from a farm in Camperdown.
It had killed a goat earlier that day but could not eat it because of the horns.
He said it was a struggle to grab hold of the snake’s head and he enlisted the help of Tyrone Marcus.
Evans said the snake was released in a beautiful area, full of game, not goats.
THE MERCURY