Since I was young,
I’ve always been fascinated by animals, exotic or domesticated. Looking at
books and watching TV, they captured my heart!
What I fancied most are their unique features, colors, physique and style. But the one I like the most are reptiles, especially
snakes.
These misunderstood
creatures often have a bad reputation as dangerous species and killers to
people particularly here in Bohol. They are the most feared and hated creatures
because of their image as slithering venomous. It’s hard to convince those
people who think so badly about snakes that not all of them are deadly.
Educating them about snakes is tough, especially when you’re doing it alone.
Nevertheless, it’s not a hindrance for me to stop convincing them. That’s how
passionate I am with snakes.
For some in southern
Philippines, cobras are mostly found in Visayas, especially in Bohol. Such
cobras have this venom called neurotoxins which immobilizes their prey,
shutting down its nervous system and eventually swallowing the prey as a whole.
Other snakes like the python, kills its prey by constriction and often eats animals
even double their size. There have been accounts of snake bites resulting to death
from a cobra bite from the famous Banakon (King cobra, Ophiophagushannah),
the most feared snake in Bohol, reaching a length up to 18.5 to 18.8 ft
(5.6 to 5.7 m). No wonder they are
afraid of it!
Sadly there
is no anti venom here in Bohol, so if a person is bitten by a venomous snake
let’s hope it’s a dry bite.
I’ve spend my
days hunting snakes here in Bohol, I’ve capture many snakes here- venomous and
non-venomous. What I do is catch and release them once I caught them. I just took pictures of them then release them
because their existence will help enhance the bio-diversity of the environment.
For one, they
help lessen the existence of rodents that destroy the rice fields; some eat
birds that destroy crops and vegetables in farm. We just have to respect them
and their way of living. I always remember that we live under one planet we
must learn how to share and respect each other, big or small.
If given the
chance, I like to travel around Bohol and educate the people about snakes; that
not all are dangerous and scary. They
are just misunderstood creatures. I highly recommend that you go visit Bohol
spend time with nature. Here are the pics of some of my “catch and release”
snakes.
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Poblacion, Sevilla, Bohol
