Top: Snake catcher David Willott with a Burmese python in Sai Kung Country Park. Above left: Willott with a python captured in a village near Sai Kung in 2009. Above right: The AFCD animal management center in Sheung Shui. Red Door News, Hong Kong

The python is a protected species under Hong Kong's Wild Animals Protection Ordinance. But dial 999 when you see one in your garden or near your home, and your phone call may effectively sentence that snake to either death or deportation.

Other captured snakes including venomous cobras are released back into the wild. Around 30 pythons a year are caught in Hong Kong and they are treated differently because, the AFCD says, they are "large and powerful" and "could pose threats to humans and their pets or livestock".

Pythons are held at an animal management center in Sheung Shui before being sent in batches across the border where they are released into wildlife parks, according to the AFCD. Snake catcher David Willott believes many captured snakes die before crossing the border.

One four-meter snake captured by Willott in a garden in Sai Kung last year died within days of arriving at the center. He now advises people who see large pythons crossing roads or in rural areas not to alert police unless they pose an immediate threat.

The AFCD policy of sending the snakes across the border to the mainland has been challenged by the Hong Kong Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) which says it is unnecessary and could upset the ecological balance in rural areas.

"We are not happy with this policy and the lack of any proper scientific data supporting its continuation," said SPCA Executive Director Sandy Macalister, who is seeking talks with the AFCD on whether the policy can be changed.

Simon Parry

(HK Edition 08/27/2010 page4)