SNAKE rescuer Nick Evans was called out to rescue a Southern African Python on Tuesday evening, April 12, among the washed up debris at a beach in Westbrook.
Beaches have been trashed, covered in debris due to the heavy rainfall and flooding experienced in parts of KwaZulu-Natal recently. Well, residents near the Westbrook area were checking out the state of their beach, when they spotted a large Southern African Python among the debris.
“The Tongaat river was quite close, it must have got washed down, and ended up here,” said snake rescuer, Nick Evans.
He said, “There were no signs of injury, although they didn’t have a great view, and they were worried about it.
It was close to one of my study sites, so it was of extra interest to me. I was quite surprised by the size of it.”
The python was entangled in the debris, but he saw the head sticking out one end. He grabbed that quickly, as he was worried it would try head deeper in.
He fed the head back through the vegetation, towards where the rest of the body was, while trying to rip out some of it with his free hand in between. Resident, Tony Perkins, helped pull vegetation out the way, untangling the snake.
“I soon had it out. It is a very impressive sized python, well over 3m, and super chunky. A very well fed snake. A female,” said Nick.
She’s been given some warmth and will be released as soon as conditions permit. He will also collect data from her, for their research.
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On Wednesday, April 13, about 10 to15 metres from where this python was found, lay a decent-sized crocodile.
“It was nice to have some excitement in a very dark, draining time. A welcomed distraction. Good luck to everyone cleaning up,” said Nick.
For more information or for the removal of snakes, contact Nick Evans on 072 809 5806 or nickevanskzn@gmail.com
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