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#SavingSnakes
Hands on reptile conservation in Kenya.By Royjan Taylor - Director, Bio-Ken Snake Farm, Watamu.
WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO SAVE...
FUZZY, SWEET, ADORABLE , LOVELY ...ETC..
WHAT WE WANT PEOPLE TO SAVE...
Bio-Ken
• I do
• If you do too, please support us and Like our Facebook Page
Do you like saving snakes?
Bio-Ken
THE MJINGA FORMULA
NO SNAKES = NO SNAKEBITE
Why not kill all our snakes?
RATS - Rats have litters of 6-
12 young, which are born 21-23 days after mating.
- They reach reproductive maturity in about 3 months.
- The average female has 4-6 litters per year. -
-With an average life span of 18 months, one pair can produce a colony of 2,000 rats in a year.
black-rat.jpg
HOW BAD IS THE RAT BREEDING PROBLEM
It is estimated that Worldwide, 3.5 million rats are born every day.
WHAT DO ALL THESE RATS EAT
It's estimated that total crop losses caused by rodents, mostly rats, each year would be enough to feed 200 million people, nearly as many as the population of Indonesia.
THE BLACK RAT Rattus rattusalso known as the sewerage rat, ship rat, the roof
rat, the rice field rat, and the bamboo rat.
- In Pakistan, rats consume several million tons of stored wheat grain annually.
- In Bangladesh losses of grain stored inside houses are estimated at US$620 million a year, in houses only.
- In India, rats outnumber humans ten-fold.
AND IN AFRICA?
Africa also suffers.
In Tanzania, rats can eat more than 80% of the planted maize seeds in an area. During bad years rats have wiped out hundreds of square kilometres of maize, the country's staple crop, destroying 50% of the crop or more.
All the African countries suffer like this including many parts of Kenya.
- We need more data
RATS - THEY ARE VERY REAL
EVEN AT HOME
Everyone has problems
with Rats.
- EAT OUR FOOD- CARRY DISEASES
RATS AND DISEASES
Rats also pose severe health risks. Food contamination is just the beginning.
It was the black rat of East Asia that brought the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) to Europe, killing a third of the population.
Plague is still a problem throughout the world today, with annual outbreaks in parts of Africa that kill hundreds of people.
Saving Snakes
THEREFORE..
Why not kill ONLY OUR VENOMOUS snakes?
Saving Snakes
Speckled Sand Snake
Speckled Sand Snake Psammophis punctulatus
Speckled Sand Snake Psammophis punctulatus
trivirgatus
SMALL SNAKES = SMALL FOOD, RELATIVE TO SIZE OF SNAKE
GALANA
THE VENOMOUS SNAKES ARE NATURES RAT EATING MACHINES
THE REALITYWHAT WE ARE SEEING
WHILE THIS IS WHAT WE WANT TO SEE…
SOME ENTHUSIASM
SOME GET VERY ENTHUSIASTIC
WHILE SOME GET TOO ENTHUSIASTIC
WE DON'T WANT TO SEE THISANY MORE - THE PANGA JOB
AND WHAT WE WANT TO SEE KINDNESS AND COMPASSION
Venomous Snakes - Released in an appropriate place
Saving Snakeswith KWS
What we want to happen...
Saving snakes from being killed...
Continued KWS involvement
Saving Snakeswith KWS
Saving SnakesNOT JUST SNAKES
Related.......Local Ocean Trust:Watamu Turtle Watch
TORTOISES
LIZARDS
CROCS
FROGS
Saving Snakes
Our Goals, and How to Get InvolvedPlease help to spread the word:• Saving Snakes on our Blog
• Follow us via Social Media... Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube
Link from your website to ours...
Typical Costs Include:
• Snake finders fee
• Return transport of snake handler to scene
• Reptile care and husbandry
Bio-Ken Watamu has saved over 1,500 snakes in the last 8 years....A good start but a tiny percentage of the amount that are needlessly killed
in our region.
WISH LIST
PARTNERS
Regional Saving Snakes partners who have access to transport, and funds required to carry out the work of Saving Snakes.
Partners have been identified in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. We are currently sourcing more 'outreach' partners.
SPONSORSHIPDonations, both financial and in kind.
We are looking for sponsors to join us in this conservation campaign, and are working on a number of sponsorship packages, from Title Sponsor, through to adopting reptiles, and other ways to contribute.
SAVING SNAKES
THE INITIATIVEBio-Ken's 'Savings Snakes' conservation
initiative aims to reduce the number of snakes needlessly killed. The program has been running for many years in Watamu.
We hope to expand Saving Snakes to cover the Sub-Saharan region within 5 years through education, awareness and sponsor partnerships.
EDUCATION - THE WAY TO GO
LEWA W. C. Bio-Ken
THANK YOU
KAKAMEGA
KAKAMEGA
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