Zam Paulik is not only one of our town’s snake catchers, he is also a bee catcher.
Catching snakes has been an unusual hobby of his since he was six years old. He has the right equipment and is not afraid of these dangerous reptiles.
Not only does Mr Paulik deal with snakes, but he removes bee swarms and hives as well. He wears a special suit when he goes out to remove dangerous hives.
Bee is the common name for a winged, flower-feeding insect with branched body hairs. Bees are dependent on pollen as a protein source and on flower nectar or oils as an energy source.
Bees range in size from tiny species – only 2mm in length – to rather large insects – up to 4cm long.
Many bees are black, brown or grey, but others are bright yellow, red or metallic-green or even blue.
Although bees are usually solitary, they may live in various types of communities.
Bees most commonly live in colonies with three different types of bees in each colony – the queen bee, the infertile worker bee (female) and the drone (male). Only the queen bee can reproduce.
In summer, many people step on honey bees and get stung while walking barefoot on the lawn. Honey bees are usually very gentle creatures who mind their own business. They are far too busy to worry about people or other animals. Honey bees are normally about 20mm long. Most bees are workers, which are female, but some are male, called ‘drones’.
Workers are slightly smaller than drones. All honey bees are reddish-brown and black, with orangish-yellow rings on the abdomen (back part of body). The head, antennae and legs are black. Honey bees have thick, pale hair on the thorax (middle part of body).
Mr Paulik has over 100 bee hives at his farm, where he bottles the honey and sells it to the community. He only produces raw honey. He started this new hobby when he was 30 years old and his sale of honey is done legally.
His wife has a similar passion and helps him if need be when he goes out to remove bee hives.
He told the Ladysmith Gazette that he has been stung many times by bees, but it’s never stopped him from doing his job.
A ‘smoke machine’ is used by Mr Paulik when he goes out to remove large bee hives or swarms. This machine helps to calm the bees when he has to remove hives or swarms from people’s homes. The smoke machine is not harmful to the bees and is used only to calm them down so they don’t attack.
“I love this job of mine and I will not stop doing it. I am very careful in how I interact with bees and snakes,” says Zam.
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