Two cobras rescued in Northdene

SNAKE catcher, Nick Evans of KwaZulu-Natal Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, is well known for his remarkable snake rescue stories.

His most recent story is nothing short of incredible.

“My friend Mark Swan, from Northdene, called me about a cobra in his garden. It was sticking its head out of a gap in the paving alongside his swimming pool. I was away so I referred him to my friend, Duncan Slabbert. He went over, but he had no chance. The gap under the paving was metres-long,” said Evans.

The following day, Swan again called Evans at about 11am to say the snake was again popping it’s head out.

“Minutes later, he messaged to say that the whole body was out. I was hesitant to go. I knew that as soon as it saw me, it would dash for cover,” said Evans who knows all to well how sharp-sighted snakes are.

“But I was hoping it would move further away from its hideout,” he explained.

On his arrival, he walked into the house to see the snake from the windows.

ALSO READ: Nick Evans rescues baby Spitting Cobra in Westville

“I could see the Cobra was right next to its hole. My chances of getting it didn’t look good. There was only one way I could try to get it, and that would be rushing at it,” Evans said.

“As I turned to walk outside, Mark shouted, “It’s moving!”. I started running. As I got out the house, I heard him shout, “There’s two!”

“Awesome! What am I gonna do?” I thought. I didn’t really know what was going to happen, so I just kept running,” continued Evans adding that he was wearing slops since he had rushed out when he got the call.

“I kicked them off and ran around the house. It looked like I had caught the first Cobra off guard. It looked at me, and I could see it thought, “Human!”, and turned in the opposite direction, instead of going into the paving.”

Evans explained that even if it had attempted to go to the paving there was no way it would have evaded his capture. “I was too quick for it. Miraculously. I grabbed it with my tongs, and momentarily, looked up to see where the other one was.”

Cobras safely caught

The other snake had, meanwhile, slipped into a drain which led the run-off water into the garden.

He secured the first cobra by hand..

One down, another to go!

By this stage, Evans said the second snake was frantically looking for an escape route.

“For a second, it looked like it would slip through a gap in the wall, but I reached out with the tongs and grabbed it before it could try anything.”

“I was down on the paving, one cobra in hand, and one in my tongs. And, I only had one bucket. For a second, I considered trying to pin the other one down. But I needed two hands for that.”

ALSO READ: Spitting cobra couple retrieved in Queensburgh

After he had carefully lifted the cobra held by the tongs into the bucket Evans was a little relieved that the situation was ‘safer’ than it had been.

“We measured the one I had in my hand, which was a male. It was a good-sized snake at 1.51 metres long.

“I took the smaller one out of the bucket in the tongs, and held it down, as I lowered the male into the bucket. Once he was in, I pinned the little one down, it was female, just over a meter long.

“That was one exciting call!” said Evans adding that it is always a pleasant surprise when you go to catch one snake and end up with two.

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