HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong is home to a variety of snakes – from the venomous king cobra to larger species such as the Burmese python. Whenever one of these reptiles is seen slipping into a house or approaching a residential area with concern, Ken Lee is one of the snake catchers called to catch the creatures.
But unlike commercial snake catchers of yesteryear, the catch of which is dished up as soup in the city’s snake shops, Lee does not sell the snakes he catches. He is part of a new breed of snake catchers that strives to release the reptiles back into the wild.
“There are occasions where people caught the snakes before I came on the scene, but unfortunately some of them were killed or fatally injured,” said 31-year-old Lee, who is one of Hong Kong’s youngest registered snake catchers. “Some people caught the snakes bravely, but it damaged wildlife.”
Like many other snake catchers in the city, Lee is self-taught. He only started handling snakes at the age of 17 when he worked as an apprentice in a Hong Kong snake shop. His experience prompted him to learn more about biodiversity and biology, and he eventually went to study it at a university in Taiwan.
When Lee catches snakes, he uses a range of equipment – stabbing gloves, sticks, hooks, a torch and bags. Sometimes he even uses his bare hands.
In early December, he made headlines when he successfully caught a 3-meter-long (10-foot-long) Burmese python in a village in a rural part of Hong Kong. That same month, Lee was also summoned to a high-rise residential building in a rural area to catch a snake from the bamboo – an ordinary, poisonous green snake whose bite can cause a foul swell.
The snakes he catches are sent to Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden, a local non-profit organization that has rescued wild animals. After a health check, most of the creatures are released back into the local parks.
“I hope all these wild animals can return to the wild,” Lee said.
He currently works as a research assistant at four universities in the city and as a volunteer with the Hong Kong Society of Herpetology Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of reptiles and amphibians.
Although Hong Kong has abundant green areas that serve as different habitats for snakes, Liz Rose-Jeffreys, conservation officer at Kadoorie Farm, believes that the city’s urban development could threaten the survival of snake species.
‘I think it’s really one of mutual respect. “They are our wild neighbors, they have been around much longer than us, and I think we have a duty to respect nature,” she said. “They form an important part of our ecosystem, so if we have to remove snakes, it will upset the balance that has been established for years.”