https://www.scmp.com/rss/314459/feed Hong Kong has more than 40 species of snake and most of them are harmless. Some, however, are highly venomous and one bite is enough to kill. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Crouching low in the mud, Hongkonger Ivan Li Yat-long did not flinch as the 1.6-metre (5.2 foot) common rat snake coiled around his arm, its grip tightening. “I never get nervous, I love it,” he said, after cutting the reptile free from the net in which it was entangled on a farm in Yuen Long in the New Territories. The 33-year-old seh wong – a Cantonese term for snake catcher which translates as “snake king” – bagged the reptile before driving to a nearby country park and releasing it... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3242049/how-hong-kongs-new-breed-snake-kings-are-defanging-cruel-practice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3242049/how-hong-kongs-new-breed-snake-kings-are-defanging-cruel-practice?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Nov 2023 04:00:15 +0000 Staff found a 30cm-long (12 inches) snake near an operating theatre in a Hong Kong hospital early on Friday, the Post has learned, with an expert suspecting the unstable weather caused by an approaching super typhoon forced the reptile to move indoors. A source said the snake was spotted at an operating theatre at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam. “This is a major breach of hospital hygiene standards,” the source said. “Snakes carry lots of bacteria and germs and can bite.” A hospital... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3233153/snakes-alive-hong-kong-hospital-staff-find-30cm-reptile-near-operating-theatre-expert-suspecting-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3233153/snakes-alive-hong-kong-hospital-staff-find-30cm-reptile-near-operating-theatre-expert-suspecting-it?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Sep 2023 12:33:53 +0000 Hong Kong has a rich biodiversity, including more than 50 species of snake, and eight of the ones that live on land are deadly. Snake bites in Hong Kong are rare, however, and according to the city’s Hospital Authority, there are about 100 snake bites a year, while the last recorded death from one was more than 20 years ago. Snakes have become creatures of curiosity for many of the city’s nature lovers, and in 2017, the Hong Kong Snakes Facebook page was established for members of the public to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3116293/facebook-snake-photo-competition-incredible-images-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3116293/facebook-snake-photo-competition-incredible-images-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jan 2021 08:15:15 +0000 Steve Pheby was walking his dog in Sai Kung in Hong Kong’s New Territories last September when he was bitten by a bamboo pit viper, Hong Kong’s most common venomous snake. “It was late at night and I’d just got home from a long-haul flight from London and changed into shorts and flip-flops,” says British-born Pheby. “I was with my dog just a few metres from my house and it all happened so quickly. At first it felt like a tiny scratch, but later it felt like someone was drilling into my foot,” he... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3085648/why-it-pays-know-your-venomous-snake-species-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3085648/why-it-pays-know-your-venomous-snake-species-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 May 2020 05:00:13 +0000 A fire department in northern Bangkok has not received a call for a fire since June. But for trapping a slithery foe? There is a 24-hour hotline. “The work [catching snakes] is quite a lot,” said Suraphong Suepchai, a 46-year-old firefighter working in the Thai capital’s Lat Yao district. “For firefighting, we have none.” Snakes are a common sight in Bangkok, a bustling city built on once swampy land, and it is not unusual to see them slithering across public spaces like parks, water canals and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2164178/bangkok-fire-department-rarely-attends-fires-theres-24-hour?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2164178/bangkok-fire-department-rarely-attends-fires-theres-24-hour?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Sep 2018 04:05:26 +0000 A large snake suspected to have swallowed a cat was caught in Sai Kung on Tuesday. Tai Wan village resident Don Holliday said his neighbour found the giant reptile in the bushes with a sizeable lump in its belly. “I was struck the moment I saw it,” Holliday said. “It was absolutely monstrous.” “Obviously it had had a recent meal. We suspect it was a cat as one neighbour’s pet was missing. I started to worry about my cat too.” Watch: Huge snake caught in Sai Kung A police report was made and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2117918/large-snake-caught-hong-kong-after-possibly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2117918/large-snake-caught-hong-kong-after-possibly?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 07:00:15 +0000 It took about two hours of scrambling around in the undergrowth late one evening on a moonlit hillside in Hong Kong for mother-of-two Tara Smyth to overcome her phobia of snakes and make her a goodwill ambassador for the reptiles. “I’m certainly not as scared of them as I was,” says the 46-year-old Scout leader, after joining a “snake safari” organised by long-time snake catchers William Sargent and Dave Willott. “I do a lot of hiking, and on some of my hikes I would see three or four snakes,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2116743/how-hongkongers-can-lose-their-fear-snakes-one-selfie-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2116743/how-hongkongers-can-lose-their-fear-snakes-one-selfie-time?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Oct 2017 10:46:03 +0000 A 4.3-metre long dog-eating python whose capture in Sai Kung Country Park was viewed more than 150,000 times on Facebook has been destroyed despite appeals for its life to be spared. A video of the Burmese python being captured by Dave Willott, 50, went viral after it attacked and hospitalised rugby player Karl Davies while he walked his pet dogs on a popular trail on June 15. Briton Davies, who weighs 107kg and plays rugby with the Potbellied Pigs team in Kowloon, spent six hours in hospital... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1996935/pet-eating-hong-kong-python-killed-despite-appeals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1996935/pet-eating-hong-kong-python-killed-despite-appeals?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jul 2016 08:16:15 +0000 An expatriate businessman, who helped catch a 4.3 metre-long ­python that attacked him as he walked his dogs, yesterday appealed for the snake to be spared. The female python was taken to an animal hospital at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden but in view of public safety concern will not be set free. It was caught after Karl Davies returned to the scene of Monday’s attack – a walking trail near Sai Kung – with local snake catcher Dave Willott.   The python, nicknamed Kaa by Davies and Willott... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1977184/expat-mauled-python-pleads-it-be-spared?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1977184/expat-mauled-python-pleads-it-be-spared?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jun 2016 18:00:15 +0000 A rugby-playing businessman who was tackled by a 4.2-metre python in Hong Kong this week has posted a video showing the moment he returned with a snake catcher to bag the giant constrictor. Video copyright Simon Parry, Red Door News Seconds before he was attacked by the snake, Karl Davies had joked with his business partner about the possibility of running into a snake as they walked Davies’ pet border collies along a popular country park trail. On his previous walk along the route in the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1975566/watch-how-briton-helped-catch-pet-eating-hong-kong-python-attacked-him?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1975566/watch-how-briton-helped-catch-pet-eating-hong-kong-python-attacked-him?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Jun 2016 22:15:00 +0000 Two friends battled a three-metre python for half an hour to rescue an 18kg pet dog from its grip in the Hong Kong countryside area of Sai Kung last week. The Burmese python struck out at five-year-old Pippa along a country trail, seizing the cross-breed dog in its huge jaws and coiling around it quickly. Pippa’s owner Stacy Tucker, 49, and her pilot friend Colin Dyson, 52, joined hands to wrestle with the hungry predator. Tucker sat on top of the snake as they prised open its jaws and tried to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1857996/pet-owner-and-friend-fight-save-dog-jaws-python?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1857996/pet-owner-and-friend-fight-save-dog-jaws-python?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Sep 2015 07:15:45 +0000 A pastor from Sai Kung says he saw an example of God’s love in the death of a goat, which was strangled by a python while it attempted to protect its kid. But the two-month-old baby goat was also killed by the three-metre Burmese python, which raided the goat farm at the drug-rehabilitation ministry on Pak Tam Road  on Sunday night. Reverend Wong Kwong-fai, vice-executive director of Christian New Being Fellowship, which operates the ministry, was stunned yesterday when he discovered the double... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1793929/hong-kong-pastor-sees-love-goat-battles-killer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1793929/hong-kong-pastor-sees-love-goat-battles-killer?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 May 2015 23:00:45 +0000 Last summer Carmel Huber, director of Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival foundation, was walking home along a dark, branch-strewn path on Lamma Island, when she felt a sudden searing pain. "It was like a red hot poker had been jabbed into my ankle," she says. Her ankle began to swell, and an ugly bruise started to spread up her leg. The stick she stepped on turned out to be a baby cobra. Watch: Meet Hong Kong's snake-savers Encounters such as Huber's, while uncommon, happen more frequently than... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1541793/snakes-are-surprising-conservation-success-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1541793/snakes-are-surprising-conservation-success-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Jun 2014 01:15:45 +0000 A lawyer told of the moment an unwelcome guest was spotted slipping into his home yesterday. The intruder was a cobra. Barrister John Wright, 61, said he stayed calm but his wife and two friends were in shock as the serpent slithered through the front door of the house in Hoi Ha village, Sai Kung. His wife slammed the door shut on its tail, but most of the metre-long snake was trapped inside the house. Their dog Sunny bit the creature in the neck and had venom spat in his eye. Veteran... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1534402/shock-sai-kung-cobra-makes-house-call?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1534402/shock-sai-kung-cobra-makes-house-call?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jun 2014 19:30:45 +0000 A pet dog has been crushed to death in front of its owner and her two young children in the second attack by a huge python in Sai Kung West Country Park in less than a fortnight. Katie Heyring told of how her family pet, Charlie, was killed by the five-metre-long snake as she was out walking near Pak Tam Chung with son Kaspar, five, and daughter Kaia, seven, and their four other dogs on Saturday. Heyring, an art dealer from Britain, said they had tried to fight off the huge python by hitting it... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1515080/pet-dog-crushed-death-python-second-attack-two-weeks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1515080/pet-dog-crushed-death-python-second-attack-two-weeks?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 May 2014 21:00:30 +0000 A huge Burmese python caused a commotion yesterday afternoon at the Quarry Bay Promenade, attracting onlookers and biting the snake catcher that had come to subdue it. The snake, which appeared to be several metres long, was perched on a ledge along the seaside walkway in the Promenade's pet garden and first seen around noon. North Point police and fire department officials were notified and cordoned the area off “like a crime scene,” said Angie Scott, an animal rights activist who had been... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1510673/python-prom-storm-washes-snake-down-hillside-quarry-bay-park?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1510673/python-prom-storm-washes-snake-down-hillside-quarry-bay-park?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 May 2014 15:30:45 +0000 A woman fought frantically to save the life of her pet dog when it was attacked by a five-metre python in Sai Kung West Country Park. Courtney Link repeatedly punched the huge snake and stabbed it with a pocket knife until it released its grip on her two-year-old mongrel Dexter and slid away. Now she has issued a warning to other dog owners to be on guard against pythons while out walking in the country park. The attack occurred last weekend as Link was walking Dexter, who weighs about 24kg,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1509362/woman-sai-kung-country-park-stabs-5-metre-python-pocket-knife-save?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1509362/woman-sai-kung-country-park-stabs-5-metre-python-pocket-knife-save?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 May 2014 21:00:00 +0000