This story began three weeks ago when a snake skin was found and identified to be an African Baboon Viper (
Bitis gabonica). The viper is only native to sub-saharan Africa and is believed to be a released or escaped exotic pet. After the snake skin was found traps nuisance animal specialists were hired to catch the reptile. Traps with live rodents as bait were set up as well as thermal imaging cameras but after three weeks there has been no success. The search for this viper was called off on Monday when the director of the search learned that the nearest anti-venom for this species is located in Africa. The anti-venom also cannot be imported because it has not met FDA approval yet. The snake could be almost anywhere in Mount Pleasant as the snakes have been found to travel up to two miles. The good news is it is not an apex predator in our local ecosystem. Alligators, king snakes, birds of prey, and coyotes have all been known to feed on large venomous snakes. Hopefully one of these predators will take care of our snake problem before someone gets bit.
source
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140421/PC16/140429863
The author of this article tends to be a little sensationalist and plays on peoples fear of snakes. The negative image of snakes can result in unnecessary killing of many species of snakes, even those that are not venomous. In this case however the snake must be eradicated because it is an invasive species making it a threat to both the ecosystem and the community.
5 comments:
Beautiful snake, but I'd prefer it if they were only kept in zoos (besides, of course, their natural habitat).
This was such a crazy story! My parents live in Mount Pleasant and my mom absolutely hates snakes so she was paranoid about this snake being anywhere near her. This may be because, as you said, this article seems to be playing on many people's fear of snakes.
This article makes me nervous. I'm not scared of snakes but the simple fact that if someone gets bit by it, there's no anti-venom in the states for the bite. Who would have a venomous snake as pet?
This article makes me nervous. I'm not scared of snakes but the simple fact that if someone gets bit by it, there's no anti-venom in the states for the bite. Who would have a venomous snake as pet?
Some of the commenters on the original article questioned the information quoted by the searchers regarding availability of the antivenin. Either way, let's hope it's not needed!
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