Durban — Snake rescuers had to make a U-turn while on their way to rescue an African rock python after finding out the snake was given to someone who was going to sell it.
On Monday morning, Durban South Snake Rescue said that around 7.30pm on Sunday they got a call to collect a snake, an African rock python.
“Even though it is illegal to catch and keep them we just wanted to collect it and hand it over to the appropriate authorities to ensure a healthy living for this beautiful specimen,” Durban South Snake Rescue said.
The organisation said that not having funds for petrol to get there, they decided the snake deserved a chance to live.
However, while driving through to an area in Verulam, they got stuck in traffic due to an accident.
“We phoned them to let them know we were on our way just stuck in traffic,” Durban South Snake Rescue said.
“Unfortunately, we had to turn around and go home. The snake was given to someone who was going to sell it.”
Durban South Snake Rescue said the snake was most likely sold to a witch doctor or sangoma as they are said to use the snakes to make muthi (medicine).
“It’s so sad how snake populations are being destroyed by this practice,” Durban South Snake Rescue said.
“I’m sure they even get sold on the black market as well.”
Durban South Snake Rescue reiterated that it is illegal to catch and keep or even sell these endangered species and the list is sadly getting a lot longer.
“Please protect our wildlife.”
Durban South Snake Rescue continued: “As I explained we went to collect it to hand it over to the proper authorities. Unfortunately, its fate ended up being worse and if we hadn’t phoned to let them know we were still on our way we would have gone there for no reason. We got halfway and that was far enough.”
According to the African Snakebite Institute (ASI), it is easy to confuse an African rock python with a southern African python. The two species look similar and only have a few differences.
“The main thing to look at is their distribution – this hardly overlaps throughout their respective ranges,” ASI said.
“The African rock python (Python sebae) has two prominent light lines from the nose, over the eye to the back of the head (these lines are much duller in the southern African python) and it has fewer, larger head scales than the southern African python. The African rock python has two white lines below the eye, which the southern African python does not have. The African rock python can reach 6.5m long, whereas the southern African python reaches 5.5m long.”
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