BY ROPAFADZO MAPIMHIDZE
HARARE, ZIMBABWE– With Zimbabwe’s urban dwellers domesticating chickens, ducks and other fowls, a Mr. Chawatama Marimo who is a snake catcher, said dangerous snakes have invaded homes as they seek to prey on the domestic birds.
Marimo said it is very rare for people to come into contact with a snake such as a cobra because it senses danger in footsteps thereby swiftly hibernating.
He (Marimo) said any snake has to work very hard to hunt its prey and hence quickly find residence in garages or junk yards, dumpsites and rubble.
Marimo also said stacks of wood that have gathered in many residential areas in towns and cities serve as habitats for the slithery reptiles.
He also urged residents to report as quickly as possible about any sightings of these sly serpents, urging people to take great caution to avoid snake bites that could endanger their health or lives.
Similarly, Josephat Chiripanyanga, a prominent Zimbabwean medical doctor said he has been attending to increased walk-in snakebite patients at his clinic in in the country’s capital Harare since the rainy season began, with the snakes emerging from their flooded ground hideouts.
According to Chiripanyanga, the snakes sneak out looking for dry areas which provide both sun-heat and residence, subsequently ending up at properties providing them with the much sort-after relief.
Chiripanyanga advised people to walk in deep and noisy steps as this action frightens the snakes in a particular area because these serpents also avoid contact with humans. He noted that it is dangerous to walk bare footed during this time of the year because snakes normally attack both in the feet and heels.
But he (Chiripanyanya) noted that although most snake bites here are not so deadly, patients should not delay visiting a hospital or clinic because this venom can affect a person and create more complications.
Chiripanyanga noted the snake that has bitten a patient should be brought to hospital dead or alive so as to establish the proper medicine to administer a patient. Delays in taking the patient to a hospital can result in death within a few hours at which stage Marimo said snake catchers like him find relevance to then assist in identifying these serpents
“I always get called by medical clinics inviting me to assess and assist in identifying the snakebite because I know how these bites differ from for example a cobra snake bite to black mamba snakebite.”
Marimo said at one time he was called by a Harare resident who found a python that had swallowed about four chicken closer to their backyard maize field.
“I in turn called the ZimParks wild life team who came and picked up the python which was taken to a nearby game park since this animal falls under Zimbabwe’s protected wildlife.”
The African Snakebite Institute estimates that Zimbabwe has 81 species of snakes, of which 48 are classified as deadly serpents.
The deadly snakes include the python, Black Mamba that has a charcoal dark mouth, Black Cobra, Mozambican spitting Cobra, Puff Adder, Goboon Viber and Green Mamba just to mention just a few of them.
The African Snakebite Institute says the Black Mamba, is the most venomous of the 48 deadly snakes in Zimbabwe.
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