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.

KESTER DURAN

Blogger

Poblacion, Sevilla, Bohol