Durban — Education and understanding turned one man’s snake fear into fascination, featuring an up-close encounter with a docile olive snake and four compelling reasons to preserve these essential predators.
Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans said a man who previously killed snakes, overcame his fear. Today he does not fear snakes
“With a bit of education, his attitude towards snakes changed, and he overcame his fear, as you can see,” Evans said, describing it as a rewarding moment.
“In his hand is the olive snake I recently caught. It’s such a docile animal.”
The answer to his question was:
- They are animals with a right to live.
- They play an important role in the environment, a link the food chain, as both predators and prey. They are especially good for rat control.
- They do not want to bite or kill us. They want to be left alone to survive. Killing them increases your chances of getting bitten.
- The more you learn about them, the better you will understand them and the less you will fear them.
Evans added he is waiting for the snake to shed so he can photograph it and then set it free.
Recently, Evans explained that the snake species is no longer classified as a house snake. It was now part of the water snake genus.
However, to him, they will always be olive house snakes, but their proper name now is olive snake.
This was his first encounter with this species in about five years.
He was called to find a snake in a massive wood pile in Pinetown. He moved a few pieces of wood, and to his joy, there was the beautiful olive snake.
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