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Snakes (General; Miscellaneous)

ramonmercado

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Indian charmers want their snakes

Thousands of charmers still perform across India despite the law

Some 1,000 snake charmers have staged a rally in eastern India, protesting against a law that has made their profession illegal.

Playing their flutes, they marched in the city of Calcutta, demanding the right to perform with live snakes.

Shows featuring cobras and other snakes have been banned in India since 1991.

Snake charmers say the ban threatens the survival of their way of life. Animal rights groups say it should be kept to curb the abuse of snakes.


Many Indian snake charmers continue to perform despite the ban

Raktim Das, the head of India's snake charmers federation, said the government should make the traditional performance legal again.

He also said serum farms should be set up across India where snake charmers could sell venom for medical use.

"We are being consistently harassed by the police for keeping snakes, which are snatched away without paying us compensation," Mr Das said.

Despite the 1991 ban, hundreds of thousands of snake charmers continue to perform in India.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7896028.stm

edit to amend title.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
According to my next door neighbour who was in India in the late 40s, you could book entertainment that involved a chap coming into your mess with a cobra and a mongoose and letting them fight to the death.

There was a fee, usually raised by whip round, that obviously had to cover the guys profit and the cost of another cobra.
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
There was a fee, usually raised by whip round, that obviously had to cover the guys profit and the cost of another cobra.
Or, every once in a while at least, a mongoose, presumably?
 
My neighbour did not mention that bit. Maybe you really had to stick around a while to see it.
 
Crawley man claims poisonous snake world record
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-11129938

David Jones Mr Jones said he wanted a challenge that was "out of the ordinary".

A Sussex carpenter is claiming a world record after spending 114 days in a room with some of the world's most venomous snakes.

David Jones, 44, of Crawley, flew to Johannesburg to complete the challenge.

He has been living in a room at a wildlife park with 40 snakes, including puff adders, snouted cobras, boomslangs and black mambas.

Mr Jones completed the challenge on Tuesday but decided to remain in the room for a further week.

The current record is held by South African Martin Smit.

Mr Smit, also known as Mad Martin, spent 113 days in a room with snakes without being bitten.

Mr Jones, whose wife is scared of snakes, said the last person to attempt the record was bitten by a puff adder and narrowly avoided having to have part of his leg amputated.

Mr Jones is using the challenge to raise money for St Catherine's Hospice in Crawley.
 
Funnily enough I found a snake in my garden in Sussex yesterday!
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
Funnily enough I found a snake in my garden in Sussex yesterday!

An actual snake?
The closest thing to a snake I've ever seen in this country is a slow-worm. The one I saw was dead.
 
Mythopoeika said:
CarlosTheDJ said:
Funnily enough I found a snake in my garden in Sussex yesterday!

An actual snake?
The closest thing to a snake I've ever seen in this country is a slow-worm. The one I saw was dead.

Well I thought it was a slow-worm but my mate was adamant that it was a python :lol:
 
If you thought it was a snake, did you hit it with a rake? And is it now only five foot four?
 
I've seen a live grass snake in a meadow down by the Ouse (Cambs).
 
Maritime hiss-tory trips to beach are bliss for pet snake
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 14736.html
ELAINE KEOGH

Mon, Jul 25, 2011

IF YOU go for a walk on the beach in Laytown, Co Meath, this summer don’t be surprised to find a man there who’s got a 4.2m python with him.

“It is good for his digestion to swim in the rock pools,” explains Peter Trinder (49), proud owner of Hiss, an albino Burmese python.

Exotic pets are the norm in the Trinder household – Peter and his wife Ann share their bedroom with Hiss and two other snakes as well as a savannah lizard.

The couple and their four children also have an assortment of cats, dogs and birds, and Ann says word has spread about their love of animals. “People have left an injured sparrowhawk and a hedgehog on our doorstep because they know we will look after them.”

Of all their pets Hiss is the most show-stopping. About a year old, he won’t be fully grown until he is four.

“He is only 14 feet at the moment – he will grow to 24 feet and will then weigh 250 lb ,” says Peter. “He is my pride and joy.”

The snake currently weighs 77 lb (35 kilos) and eats rabbits, feeding twice a week.

Peter says the digestive beach trips are important for his pet. “I put him in rock pools and he does his thing. He is getting to the point where it will take two of us to bring him down here,” he says, staying beside Hiss and making sure he does not go near other people or any dogs brought to the beach.

Ann also brings Bosco the lizard there, and he likes to try to climb the rocks.

The couple do not like the recent trend of people buying exotic animals as if “they were a status symbol”.

“They are a commitment and when the novelty wears off people are just dumping them,” says Ann, who adds she was the first to want a reptile, and says “for Valentine’s Day, I get a snake”.

Her husband agrees, saying it makes perfect sense because “chocolates make you fat and roses die after two days”.
 
Snakes in Ireland? St Patrick will be spinning in his grave!
 
ramonmercado said:
“People have left an injured sparrowhawk and a hedgehog on our doorstep because they know we will look after them.”
[/quote]
Does Hiss get them? ;)
 
Definitely Pyhtonesque.

Python rescued from Morecambe office chair
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-la ... e-14444745

Brian the python was stuck within the adjustment mechanism of the chair

Fire crews in Lancashire were called to an unusual rescue after reports that a snake had become trapped in a piece of furniture.

The 3ft (0.9m) python was stuck in the adjustment mechanism of an office chair at a home on Alexandra Road in Morecambe.

Small tools and a crow bar were used to open up the mechanism and the snake, called Brian, was gently pulled out.

Despite his confinement, Brian appeared to be unharmed following his release.
 
Brian! Brian! What kind of a name is that for a snake. He was probably trying to kill himself!
 
The graveyard snake and the praying woman
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fea ... 50523.html

A LADY praying in a west Clare graveyard was paid an unexpected visit by a serpent last week – in this case a North American corn snake, which had escaped from its owner.

Following a call to the Garda, local dog warden Frankie Coote was tasked with identifying and collecting the four-and-a-half-foot male snake. Coote believes the snake had been living in the graveyard for some time, picking off vermin for food.

“The owner is close by and maybe he let him out to have a snake about and he disappeared. I think he was living there for about five weeks. They will generally survive the summer, but after that the winter will kill them – either that or St Patrick.”

The North American corn snake’s normal lifespan can be up to 30 years.

This isn’t the first time Clare ISPCA has had to deal with reptiles. Demand for pet snakes and lizards has boomed in recent years, and the problems for local animal rescue services are rising.

“We do get more and more calls now. I am aware people have 10-12-foot-long snakes just in Co Clare alone,” says Coote. “There is nothing I can do about it. I feel there should be legislation.

“I know of one person who has a python in a house in a housing estate.”

One solution, Coote believes, is for the type of restrictions imposed on dog and cat owners to apply also to owners of exotic pets.

“With dogs, there is responsibility attached. I can check the licence, and the owner has to pay a replacement charge if they stray, and account for any expense incurred by our services. But then a fella can walk down the street with a lion or tiger, and there’s nothing any dog warden can do about it. It doesn’t make any sense.”

– Brian O’Connell
 
Angry India charmer lets loose snakes in office
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-15963842

Office workers take evasive action from the snakes in Uttar Pradesh

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Indian charmers want their snakes

An angry snakecharmer in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has let loose dozens of snakes in a government office, sparking chaos and panic.

Hakkul, of Lara village in Basti district, dumped the snakes, including a number of cobras, at the land revenue office in Harraiya town on Tuesday.

Many of the frightened villagers and officials ran out of the office, while others climbed on top of tables.

No-one was bitten or injured but the snakes are yet to be caught.

Plot of land

Mr Hakkul is usually called in whenever a snake is spotted in the area and he has saved many lives over the years, local journalist Mazhar Azad told the BBC.

Mr Hakkul has petitioned various government offices over the years demanding a plot of land where he can "conserve" his snakes.

Mr Azad said Mr Hakkul had even petitioned the president.


Some of the snakes are still in the building Mr Hakkul says his request has been cleared by senior authorities, but the local officials keep delaying it.

On Tuesday, Mr Hakkul went to the Tehsil [revenue] office with a group of supporters and emptied out his bags containing poisonous snakes.

"Snakes were climbing up the tables and chairs. The office was full, there were nearly 100 officials and clerks and many more visitors," Mr Azad said.

"There was total chaos for several hours. Some people started taking photos with their telephone cameras, others brought out sheets to try to cover the snakes. Some came with sticks and wanted to beat up Hakkul."

Mr Azad said Mr Hakkul and his men escaped in the confusion and are yet to be caught.

So are the snakes who are still hiding in the building.
 
Was unsure where to put this. mods please move to OOPA if appropriate.

Battling the brown tree snake in Guam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17992053
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News, Guam

Wildlife biologist James Stanford on the trail of the brown tree snake

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In the dense tropical forest, a slither of movement can just be made out in the glow of our head torches.

A snake is entwined in the undergrowth. It is about 1m long, mostly dull brown but with a vivid yellow underbelly.

We are face to face with Guam's "nemesis": the brown tree snake. And the forests here are dripping with them.

The US territory, in the western Pacific, is only 50km (30 miles) long and 10km wide, but it is packed with two million snakes.

This reptile arrived here only 60 years ago but has rapidly become one of the most successful invasive species ever.

Unhealthy appetite

Wildlife biologist James Stanford, from the US Geological Survey, says: "Our belief is that they came at the end of World War II.

"We've looked at their genetics and they are all extremely closely related, and it appears they came from the Island of Manus in Papua New Guinea."

He explains that military equipment used by the US in Papua New Guinea while the war raged in the Pacific was eventually sent back to Guam to be processed. A snake probably crept on to a ship or a plane destined for the island.


Cheryl Calaustro says the koko was easy prey for the snakes
"And from that handful, or maybe even one already impregnated female, we now have a population that is unbelievable in scale," he says.

The venomous snakes have caused many problems. They get everywhere, and people have even woken up with them in their beds.

The island's power system is regularly shorted out by snakes crawling on the lines. It is so frequent the locals now call power cuts "brown outs".

But the biggest impact has been on the wildlife - it has been decimated. The forests here are eerily quiet. Now the only place where the Guam's native birds, such as the koko, can be seen on the island are in cages in a captive breeding centre.

"The brown tree snake has had a devastating impact. Ten out of 12 native forest bird species disappeared in 30 years," says Cheryl Calaustro from Guam's Department of Agriculture.

"The birds here evolved without predators. They were quite naive. And when the snake arrived on Guam it ate eggs, juveniles, adults. Whole generations disappeared."

Toxic mouse bombs

But the snakes did not stop there.

Dr Stanford explains: "We thought it would be limited: 'OK, if it wipes out the birds, it will decline.' It wasn't the case. It just switched what it was feeding on - rodents, lizards, small mammals - across the board."


Desperate measures in Guam's battle against the brown tree snake
Now the locals are fighting back. And they are unleashing some unusual weapons in their war against the snake.

One effort has involved air-dropping mice that have been laced with poison and fitted with parachutes out of helicopters. It provides a deadly dinner for any unsuspecting snakes below.

"Right now we are using acetaminophen. It commonly used as a pain reliever and fever reducer in humans, but it is 100% lethal to all brown tree snakes," explains Dan Vice of the US Department of Agriculture.

"If they eat that dead mouse containing acetaminophen, they will die."

But this is a battle on two fronts. Not only is the US government trying to clear the snakes, it is also trying to prevent the problem being passed to anyone else.

And to do this, it has enlisted the help of some small dogs.

Snakes on a plane

In a busy cargo depot close to the airport, Elmo the Jack Russell, kitted out in a smart, green uniform, is sniffing box upon box of goods waiting for export.


Elmo the Jack Russell is an expert at sniffing out snakes
He is on the hunt for any unwanted stowaways.

As he catches wind of an unusual scent, he begins to scrabble, alerting the government inspector to the presence of a snake - and is rewarded with a treat.

A small army of dogs check every single item of cargo before it leaves Guam.

"It is a monumental project. We're working 24 hours a day, seven days a week," says Mr Vice.

"Cargo doesn't stop, the airport doesn't shut down, so we have to be there to make sure the cargo going on the airplane has indeed been snake inspected."

Letting the snakes on a plane could have devastating consequences.

Mr Vice says: "Economics researchers have tried to apply the impact of snakes to Hawaii. They found it could cost $400m or more if the snake became established.


Getting rid of the snakes is going to be an enormous job for the US government
"The impacts are running across all kinds of parts of the economy. It includes healthcare for humans because the snakes bite people, damage to the power system, lost revenue associated with declines in tourism and ecotourism."

However, with so many snakes on the island, controlling the problem is an uphill battle.

And today, Guam serves as an example to the world of what happens when an invasive species takes hold.

The worry is that it may be too late to clear the infestation, but Mr Vice says this should not stop the islanders from trying.

"Our long-term goal is to eradicate the snake," he says.

"The problems here are so profound we don't want to let them go anywhere else, and the only way to achieve that is to get rid of them completely."
 
They should have an 'Eradicate Snakes' day, when everybody on Guam hunts for brown snakes. They should be pretty thorough about it, perhaps doing it a few times.
 
Mythopoeika said:
They should have an 'Eradicate Snakes' day, when everybody on Guam hunts for brown snakes. They should be pretty thorough about it, perhaps doing it a few times.

didn't The Simpsons have a snake whacking day?
 
Yes and Barry White saved the snakes with his smoooth singing.
 
ramonmercado said:
The purchase was intended for his marijuana plants, which Mr Craig said he was licensed to grow for medical reasons.

:lol: The police officers disagreed!
 
More mice paras in Guam.

US to bomb Guam with dead mice
http://rt.com/usa/us-snake-guam-mice-308/

In a desperate attempt to kill off two million brown tree snakes that are plaguing the territory of Guam, the US is bombing the island with poisoned dead mice, hoping that the snakes will eat them.

“We are taking this to a new phase. There really is no other place in the world with a snake problem like Guam,” Daniel Vice, assistant state director of the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services in Guam, told the Associated Press.

The pile of dead mice, laced with painkillers that are deadly for snakes, will rain down onto Guam’s jungle canopy as scientists drop them from helicopters in a last-ditch attempt to eradicate the invasive species.

Even though the venom of brown tree snakes is nonlethal for humans, the snake infestation has damaged infrastructure and wiped out other species in Guam. Slithering into homes, the snakes often bite people and damage power lines and wires, resulting in large-scale blackouts. The tree snakes can grow to more than 10 feet in length, although most of them are usually just a few feet long.

Nearly all of Guam’s native birds have become wiped out in the years since the tree snake first came to the island aboard a US military ship more than 60 years ago. With much of Guam’s wildlife having become endangered or extinct, tourism has dwindled, thereby inflicting an economic toll on the US territory.

Located 3,000 miles away, officials in the state of Hawaii have long feared that the snakes could make their way over to the tropical island and destroy its local habitat, as well.

Vice predicts that if the US and Guam make no attempts to contain the snakes, "the possibility of the snakes getting to Hawaii is inevitable."

The National Wildlife Research Center estimates that a Hawaiian brown tree snake infestation would inflict $593 million to $2.14 billion in economic damages each year, including widespread power outages and a significant decrease in tourism. In an attempt to control the Guam-based infestation and prevent it from spreading, the US government will bombard the island with the dead mice starting this spring. The painkillers that the mice will be laced with include acetaminophen, which is the active ingredient in medicines such as Tylenol.

Brown tree snakes are one of very few snake species that eat the corpses of dead animals that they didn’t kill themselves. Being highly vulnerable to acetaminophen, snakes that consume the dead mice will most likely expire.

Scientists will drop the dead mice individually from a helicopter. The bait will be attached to a flotation device with streamers that would ensure that the poisoned mice get caught in the branches of a tree, where the snakes live and feed.

Birds are also vulnerable to acetaminophen, but scientists claim that most of the birds have already been wiped out by the snakes anyway.

AP reports that the US government plans to begin dropping the poisoned mice in April or May.
 
Australian police find 5.7m python in Queensland shop
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23254178

Python found in charity shop

Police initially thought a person had fallen through the roof

A 5.7m (19ft) python has been seized after it fell from the ceiling of a charity shop in Australia.

The python, weighing 17kg (37lbs), was recovered by a snake-handler after police investigated a suspected break-in at the shop in Ingham, Queensland.

"Its head was the size of a small dog," said police spokesman Sgt Don Auld.

The snake fell through a ceiling panel, smashing shop goods. Police said it may have got in through the roof, which was damaged by Cyclone Yasi in 2011.

When police were initially called to the property on Monday, they believed a person had fallen through the ceiling because the roof panel had been cut in half.

Crockery, clothes and other goods were scattered all over the floor.

Police were called back to the shop the following day when a large crowd formed outside.

Sgt Auld said the snake must have been hiding when police went there the first time.

It has been released in nearby wetlands.
 
Richard Parrinello, Animal-Control Officer, Hid 850 Snakes Worth $500,000 In His Home, Police Say
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/2 ... 60766.html
09/19/13 10:42 PM ET EDT AP

Richard Parrinello snakes in home

SHIRLEY, N.Y. -- An animal-control officer had hundreds of snakes, including two 6-foot Burmese pythons, at his home, where he ran an illegal side business selling them, authorities said Thursday.

There were 850 snakes worth half a million dollars in a detached garage at the Shirley home of Richard Parrinello, including the Burmese pythons, which are illegal in New York state, officials said.

"There is a reason why Burmese pythons are illegal," said Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross, citing the deaths of two young boys in New Brunswick, Canada, who were killed by an African rock python while they slept last month.

Gross said Burmese pythons can grow to 30 feet long and are "an accident waiting to happen."

Parrinello has worked on and off as an animal-control officer for the town of Brookhaven since 1988, town spokesman Jack Krieger said.

Authorities spotted the snakes during an investigation into whether Parrinello was working while on disability leave from his town job.

During a weeks-long undercover investigation, authorities said, investigators caught Parrinello on camera claiming he had $500,000 in inventory – including snakes, turtles and turtle eggs – stored in a garage he'd converted into habitat space.

Parrinello faces multiple charges of owning the pythons and violating town codes by running a business at his home without a permit. He was issued two violations by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation.

Authorities said Parrinello is cooperating. A man who answered the phone at a number listed on Parrinello's Snakeman's Exotics website said he had no comment.

Gross said the pythons were headed to an animal sanctuary in Massachusetts. It was unclear what would be done with the other snakes.
 
Snake on a plane - for real! :D

Tiny snake on Qantas plane delays 370 passengers

A snake on a plane has delayed hundreds of Qantas passengers, who were forced to spend the night in a hotel when the reptile was discovered on-board the aircraft at Sydney International Airport on Sunday night.

The tiny snake, which measured just 20 centimetres long and was the width of a ball-point pen, was found wriggling near the door of QF21 on Sunday night. It was a little less threatening than the snakes in Jackson's 2006 fictional Hollywood blockbuster Snakes on a Plane, in which a nest of vipers causes death and destruction on a jet.

A Qantas spokeswoman said a cabin crew member discovered the critter before the 370 passengers boarded the plane, which was bound for Tokyo.
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The passengers were accommodated in hotels on Sunday night while quarantine inspectors caught and examined the snake. They are yet to determine what type it is.

The Qantas spokeswoman said the plane had been on the ground in Sydney all day on Sunday after an earlier flight from Singapore. The re-scheduled flight took off at 7.15am on Monday.

It's the second "snakes on a plane" moment for Qantas this year.

In January, a three-metre python hitched a ride on an early morning flight from Cairns to Papua New Guinea.

Passengers spotted the scrub python sitting outside on the wing of the plane.

It was believed to have crawled up inside the landing bay, before the wind caught the last 30 centimetres of its tail and pulled it straight out.

That snake did not survive the ordeal.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-inc ... z2fh4YCJ4B
 
Snake thrown over fence and dumped in Orford, Warrington
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-me ... e-24441273

The snake was dumped at Fordton Leisure Centre in Orford

A snake has been rescued after it was thrown over a fence in a box in Warrington, Cheshire.

Police said a 4ft (1.2m) snake was found on a footpath at midnight at the disused Fordton Leisure Centre on Chiltern Avenue, Orford.

A concerned resident reported seeing someone throwing a box over the fence.

Police said officers "exercised caution" as they did not know if the snake was dangerous. She said the RSPCA said the snake was unharmed.

PC Julia West, who described it as one of their more unusual callouts, said the RSPCA was now caring for snake and trying to identify what species it was.

She said officers had "absolutely no idea" who dumped the snake or why.

"We haven't been able to identify the person involved, the reasoning behind or why someone dumped it at this location."

PC West added: "It could possibly be someone's pet."
 
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