It’s World Snake Day on 16 July, which is an excellent time to consider the importance of snake conservation and the crucial ecological role these reptiles hold.  Across South Africa, many endangered snakes are killed out of fear.  

Through its snake awareness and snake handling training, Nature Connect helps people understand the important ecological role snakes play and how to respond safely when encountering them. By replacing fear with knowledge, communities can protect both people and wildlife. 

Unfortunately, myths about snakes can lead to these valuable reptiles being unnecessarily killed. 

Some people assume that they must kill a snake to protect themselves, but this is false. Snakes want to escape and only bite people when threatened, so the safest way to avoid snakebite is to give the snake plenty of space. 

Likewise, misconceptions persist about the motivation behind a snakebite.  Snakes do not suck milk from cows, but eat small birds, eggs, and rodents.  Snakes do not mate for life, nor do they bite people in retaliation for the death of another snake. 

Fortunately, most snakes in southern Africa are not venomous.  Only about 20 of the 177 snake species in the region are medically significant venomous species, so most snakes encountered around homes are harmless. 

Even if snakes might seem scary, they hold an important environmental role.  By eating rats and mice, snakes help control pest populations that would otherwise transmit zoonotic diseases and damage farmers’ crops.  Snakes are also an important source of food for birds of prey, including eagles and the Secretary bird.  Losing snakes threatens to disrupt delicate ecosystems. 

Snakes even play a role within human medicine, since venom is studied for its potential uses to help with blood pressure treatments. 

Nature Connect’s venomous snake handling and snake awareness trainings, operated in collaboration with African Reptiles and Venom, seek to educate participants about snake safety.  Snake removers and trained handlers are more important in the local community and provide an alternative to killing snakes. 

Some of the skills that these programmes teach hold a practical impact, like learning about First Aid, CPR, and how to help someone who has been bitten by a snake.  For instance, sucking out the venom or using a tight tourniquet near the bite both fail to remove venom and can make snakebites worse.  It’s best to keep the person calm and get them to a medical facility as soon as possible. 

Other skills focus on how to capture and remove a puff adder, cobra, or boomslang and relocate it to a safe place away from people.  Learners confront their fears about snakes by meeting Passive, Nature Connect’s training ball python. 

This World Snake Day, Nature Connect encourages people to learn more about snakes and their role in healthy ecosystems. By understanding these often-misunderstood reptiles, we can help ensure they remain part of South Africa’s natural heritage for generations to come.