Help... there's a snake in my room
Teh Joo Lin, Straits Times 31 Dec 09;
SNAKES are making themselves at home - in people's homes.
So Canadian housewife Ali Marino, 40, found out one Saturday morning when she saw the family's pet golden retriever nosing around some cushions on the second floor of her Changi home.
What was worrying the dog? A 3m-long python.
Ms Marino, who was at home with her six-year-old daughter, called the police. They told her to call a pest controller. The python was removed at a cost of more than $500.
'I was in shock with the snake, and then I was in shock with the bill,' she said.
An encounter with a snake in urbanised Singapore is becoming commonplace. The police, pest control companies and members of the public handed almost 300 snakes to the Singapore Zoo and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) last year.
So far this year, more than 250 snakes have been caught. That figure does not include those which might have been killed on sight or released to the wild.
In July, service engineer Dennis Fabila spotted a snake crawling on the street in Eunos Avenue 1, before it was caught by police officers. The 31-year-old Filipino found the wildlife sighting in a concrete jungle so incongruous, he shot a video and posted it on the Internet.
'I was wondering where the snake came from because around here, there's no jungle,' he said.
Ironically, that may be the reason.
Snakes slip into the urban environment to find food and shelter when their habitats are cleared for development, said Mr Biswajit Guha, the zoo's assistant director of zoology.
Most snakes found here are reticulated pythons, which are non-poisonous, muscular reptiles that can grow up to 10m. They kill their prey - usually rodents - by constricting them in their coils. They are seldom as dangerous as they look, though they can be vicious biters if provoked.
Zoo curator Francis Lim has never come across a case of a python killing a human being in his 35 years of handling snakes. They have attacked dogs and cats but, even then, 'very rarely'.
But with 53 recorded snake species here, including eight which are venomous, Mr Lim does not advise people to take matters into their own hands. 'They'll not know whether the snake is venomous or not. If they are catching them on their own, they might risk getting bitten.'
For example, the equatorial spitting cobra can accurately spit venom into the eye and cause temporary blindness. Its bite can cause death.
Mr Lim said that if a snake strays into places where it can easily return to the bushes, 'I'd say leave it. You can just shoo it off. Let it go back'.
But the sight of snakes still sends people scrambling to call the police. Like Ms Marino, not all succeed in getting an officer to turn up at their doorsteps.
Police spokesman Tham Yee Lin said the police get fewer than 10 calls of wildlife sightings a month. They will respond to cases of wild animals found in public areas if there is imminent danger to the public. But if the snake appears in a private compound, the police will respond only when there is an 'immediate danger to life'. Otherwise, home owners are advised to call pest control companies.
Pest control companies contacted said their staff are trained to respond round- the-clock to any snake situation.
They treat snake calls as emergencies. Staff visit the scene with special snake-catching devices - long rods with clamps to grip the reptile from a distance.
Prices vary, but charges of $300 to $600 are common. Rates differ depending on the situation, said PestBusters chief executive Thomas Fernandez. He cited factors such as the size, species and aggression of the snake, and the amount of manpower and effort needed to catch it.
He said: 'I had one snake that was behind a kitchen cabinet. There was only a small gap, so we had to wait until a carpenter came. We had to spend four to five hours there.'
The customer paid $800.
Before customers baulk at the prices for catching snakes, they should understand that pest controllers put themselves in harm's way to remove the danger, said Mr G. Surajan, managing director of Major's Pest Management.
Snake catchers are getting better at the job, as zoo staff can attest.
Mr Lim, who started work at the zoo in 1975, said: 'In the beginning, the police were not trained, so they used whatever equipment they had in hand...and even shot them, which is not advisable. Now, they are in a better position. The welfare of the snake is a concern.'
Police officers now use gunny sacks to transport snakes so that they have enough oxygen.
In the past, police officers have run over snakes several times with their patrol cars to kill them.
Mr Guha said: 'Some snakes arrived in extremely poor condition due to inappropriate handling and restraint.'
Some suffocated and suffered brain damage because they were tied up in air- tight bags. Others had fractures and organ damage after being trampled on by frightened people. The zoo also received snakes that were starved and badly dehydrated.
Such cases are rare now.
When The Straits Times visited the zoo recently, its Wildlife Healthcare and Research Centre had just received a fresh batch of pythons, each coiled up inside a gunny sack. They were sedated, measured, weighed, inspected and treated for injuries and health problems.
Snakes in good health have microchips inserted before they are released into the wild with the help of the National Parks Board (NParks). It is against the law for people to release animals into the parks and nature reserves on their own.
An NParks spokesman said it releases healthy native species of snakes, such as the python and the bronzeback snake, back into the nature reserves. The trouble is, 7 per cent of them usually end up back in the zoo, having strayed into urban areas via the drain network.
Experts preach tolerance, especially if people encounter snakes in nature and in semi-wild areas. Mr Guha said: 'They do not pose a threat to humans and will usually avoid any unnecessary contact with people.'
Moreover, they play a useful part in nature by controlling the rodent population.
He said: 'They're also part of our natural heritage and as much as people are afraid of encountering them, snakes and other reptiles are integral animals of our rainforests.'
Ms Marino was told by the pest control company that the python was capable of harming her daughter, two dogs and two cats. She has since taken some precautions. 'We assume the snake entered the second level of our home by means of a tree branch and we have since trimmed back the branches.'
