A Snake got in the Way!

Do you ever get those days where you plan to do something and then something else happens and things change? We had one of those days today! We decided to pull Gemsquash out for a bit of a wash and brush-up as we are heading off next week for a few days to give Alfie a bit of a break.

So, as we were busy outside (well Rob was busy, I was faffing about), a Traffic Police car slowly drove by and we waved and he stopped for a chat. Interestingly, it was the same officer that I spoke to yesterday in town, begging him to come and trap on our road! Anyway, as we were talking, he suddenly said 'Haai, daar's a slang in die pad!' ('Hey, there's a snake in the road') and said a hasty goodbye. And there was. A long yellow/green Cape Cobra was quietly making its way across the road and along the bottom of our neighbour's wall! Towards our house!

It saw me and I stamped my feet a few times, don't ask me why, to let it know that I was there and not happy about the direction he was moving, I think. Anyway, to cut a long story a little shorter, the snake finally wove its way into their garden and ended up behind a large bush next to the wall.

The bush where it ended up!

Now we had a quandary. If we left it, it was only a slither away from us and the thought of having it that close was not pleasant. So Rob phoned Tanya (Heald), the wonderful lady from HOW Wildlife Rescue, who at the precise time that Rob spoke to her, was up a tree in Langebaan catching a boomslang for release away from town! She was willing and able to come if we kept an eye on the cobra until she managed to catch the boomslang. So we took it in turns to peer over the wall and check that it was still there. Alfie was fairly keen to help at one stage, and I had to chuck a few stones at Dopey cat to dissuade him from plunging into the bushes to play.

Tanya, snake catcher extrordinaire!

Tanya arrived like a knight on a white charger! Within  minutes she had spotted it and while she held the head down with one hand using her special snake-catching-stick, she grabbed the tail in the other hand and carefully pulled it over the wall and into a pillow-case that was lying on the ground ready for just that! The snake went into the pillow-case with no problem, Tanya tied a knot in it, and voila, job done!

Tanya's logo.

As she was a tad low on fuel, Rob followed her into Saldanha to make sure that she got there safely. On the way they stopped next to the road to release the young adult 1.2 m cobra into the protected area, and it took off according to Rob, 'like a homesick angel!'

Guaranteed to keep your car safe from vandals?

The boomslang will have to go further afield to where there are some trees!

And then, it was back to washing Gemsquash!