The Tainan City Government last week said it responded to calls from the public and captured almost 6,000 snakes last year.
A total of 5,967 snakes were caught in Tainan last year, according to data compiled by the city government’s Agriculture Bureau.
Two native species, the Taiwanese king rat snake and Chinese cobra, were the most commonly captured among the 20 different species, it said.
Photo coutesy of Chang Ming-chang
The bureau said it captured 1,570 king rat snakes, along with 1,319 Chinese cobras. Also captured were 798 Oriental rat snakes, 603 beauty rat snakes, followed by three highly venomous species: 522 Taiwanese kraits, 277 Taiwanese mountain pit vipers and 154 Taiwanese bamboo vipers, it said.
The Taiwanese king rat snake is found in most districts of Tainan, while the cobra was most commonly found in Rende District (仁德), with 121 captured, and Madou District (麻豆), with 75, the bureau said.
“The capture of the snakes was contracted out to specialized companies, usually at rates of between 5,000 to 6,000 each year, so last year’s total was within the normal range,” bureau officer Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) said.
The average was about three caught per day for the two species leading the list, Reptile Conservation Association of Taiwan director Wang Shih-hao (王士豪) said.
Native cobras inhabit forest and farmland areas at under 500m elevation, mainly eat rats, frogs and other snakes, and are usually under 1.5m in length, but are sometimes found to reach 2m, Wang said.
“Cobras can adapt to many different environments and were found to have more encounters with humans than before due to destruction of their natural habitat, which makes them more active during daytime and overlap with human activities,” he added.
The peak season for calls by the public is from May to October, the hottest months, and last year the busiest month was August, with 893 snakes captured, while the low season is in winter, from December to February, with more than 100 caught during that period, Wang added.
Most snakes in Taiwan do not hibernate, but during a sudden cold spell, these reptiles have low energy and become inactive, and some enter into a brief respite, known as winter dormancy, and when the temperature rises, they start to move around again, which is why the snakes are less active during the winter, but people could still encounter them, especially in southern Taiwan, Wang said.
“If you encounter a cobra or other snake species outside, do not approach or disturb them, as the snakes do not attack on their own... But many people are not fully aware of this and are scared of the snakes, so they attack and kill them,” he said.
“But that’s the wrong approach, and carries a higher risk of being bitten by the snake. People should just slow down, not strike out and not pose a threat to the snake. Just call to report the snake and keep an eye on its movement. Then you would be safe,” Wang said.
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