Snake catcher and daughter heartbroken after rescuing beaten Burmese python
Snake rescuer Grant Cavanagh was left heartbroken after rescuing a Burmese python that was beaten to death in Clermont, outside Pinetown.
Image: Facebook
A snake catcher and his daughter were left heartbroken after being called out to rescue a Burmese python that had been stoned and beaten to death by a group of children.
Grant Cavanagh of Durban South Snake Rescue said that he and his daughter, Savannah, were called to Clermont, on the outskirts of Pinetown.
“It was explained to me by a gentleman that they had spotted a very thick-bodied, yellow coloured snake down at the bottom of a tavern by the river,” Cavanagh said.
He asked for a couple of pictures and realised it was some kind of exotic python, so they hastily got in the car and made their way through peak traffic. They arrived in record time to try to save the snake.
When they arrived, an intoxicated person greeted them and directed them to the river.
“On the way down, the gentleman explained to me that some of the local children had thrown rocks at it and tried to hit it with a plank. My daughter very calmly told me to expect the worst. And that it was,” Cavanagh said.
“I found about a three-and-a-half metre Burmese python that had been stoned and beaten to death by these children.”
Cavanagh said it was sad that the snake suffered such a gruesome death.
“That’s the part that I don’t like - people just beating things to death. If you’re going to euthanise something, do it humanely. Beating something to death is animal cruelty,” Cavanagh said.
“Throwing rocks at it and beating it with a plank is really not a nice death. It bled to death internally. It died of internal organ failure.”
Snake rescuer Grant Cavanagh holds the Burmese python that was beaten to death in Clermont, outside Pinetown.
Image: Facebook
He removed the dead python and had to dispose of the carcass.
“My daughter and I were very heartbroken to see such a beautiful animal beaten to death,” Cavanagh said.
He explained that in KwaZulu-Natal, Burmese pythons are classified as an invasive species, which means that if they get into the wild and breed, they breed quite fast.
“You’re not allowed to keep or breed them in Natal.
“We’ve got our African rock python, which is indigenous, and these exotic species can actually breathe to a point where they can wipe out a lot of our local wildlife, endangered species.”
He said one needs a permit to keep that species.
Cavanagh said in the Everglades, they eat alligators. Therefore, if they breed in KZN like in the Everglades or in Florida, they will eat cats, dogs, dassies, duikers, bush pigs, and anything else they can catch.
“They are classified as one of the biggest constrictors in the world, and grow to about the same size as an African rock python, which is between five-and-a-half and six metres long,” he explained.
Cavanagh said education is important. People should contact a snake catcher for help.
“There are numerous snake catchers in Durban. They can contact me, Nick Evans, Jason Arnold, and Warren Dick.
“The whole point is to keep an eye on the reptile. You don’t have to approach it. Watch it from a distance. Send us your pin location so that we can actually find where you are and get to you as quickly as possible, and then come and take it away,” Cavanagh said.
“There’s no need to beat the snake to death, even if you’re scared of it.”