Boomslang

Boomslang, originally uploaded by holtphoto.

We came across this boomslang just outside of camp. He had been trying to get to a Lilac Breasted Roller atop of the telephone pole and got caught in a wire loop on the pole. The poor guy had been there for a couple of days. You can actually see in the image where his body was caught in the wire loop on the pole. Protocol requires that the section ranger in the Kruger National Park be notified of any animals in distress and any actions needs to be taken by the section ranger. I have to admit that it seems a bit daft and is certainly not the most effective means of management as two days after the snake was reported to the section ranger nobody for SANparks had arrived to assist. You can see in the image that there is a drop of blood on the bottom of the snake. Thankfully the weather was cool and overcast with some rain which would have helped the snake. I am happy to report that eventually staff took matters into their own hands and freed the snake. Snakes have pretty remarkable powers of recovery so I am sure that this guy made a full recovery

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DSC00015.jpg, originally uploaded by holtphoto.