Table View mother-and-son snake catchers Davine Sansom and Andre Barnard, 21, rescued snakes and a rare mouse at a flooded Rietvlei last week.
Responding to reports of snakes trying to escape flooding on Thursday last week, they drove to the vlei, where Mr Barnard spotted snakes climbing a fence to escape the rising water. He went into waist-high water to rescue them.
According to Ms Sansom, there were five skaapstekers, one brown water snake and a rare gray climbing mouse.
Mr Barnard says he started going out on call-outs with his mother when he was 13.
“At 14, she allowed me to catch and release snakes with her in the background to ensure my safety. My mother’s love and passion for all animals rubbed off on me.”
Mother and son say they have rescued 64 animals in and around Table View since last September, including mole snakes, brown water snakes, skaapstekers and chameleons.
“Rescuing during storms makes you feel good. It warms one’s heart to see them go back into the wild,” says Mr Barnard.
“If the public sees a snake, they need to watch the snake at all times and call us. People are not educated enough when it comes to snakes. The more you educate yourself the more you grow to understand and appreciate these beautiful misunderstood creatures.”
Ms Sansom says any snakes they rescue get released in a safe spot nearby.
“Any snakes we catch at Rietvlei we will then release them at Rietvlei, but, of course, we will find a safer spot. For example, with the snakes we rescued last week, we found a safer spot at the vlei with higher ground for them to be released.
“There’s a lot of spots they get released back to so they can go and carry on with their lives, find a warm burrow where they can get warm and sleep. We don’t release them back to exactly where they were found because of the high water levels.”
Ms Sansom says snakes can swim, but being cold blooded, they can often drown in very cold water if they can’t get something to hold on to.
“I’ve gone on many call-outs where snakes have drowned in pools as they cannot get out and become tired.”
