A Cape Town family returned home from church to find an unexpected – and highly venomous – guest in their bathroom toilet on Sunday, reports Cape {town} Etc.
A Cape cobra had taken up residence in the Parklands family’s toilet and was found half in the toilet pot and half out.
Following a call for help, Snake Relocation owner and founder Andrew MacLeod swooped in swiftly to safely remove the Cape cobra from the premises before it could become agitated, risking a venomous attack on any of the many family members in the household.
‘Inside the flat, there were nine kids aged 13 and younger,’ MacLeod told IOL. ‘I usually charge R350 for snake removals. However, I didn’t care that they didn’t have it. It was about their safety, and it was also a five-minute job.’
MacLeod, who added that his company has been kept occupied with snake retrievals over the last few months, explained to the publication that the now frequent appearances of snakes in residences may be the result of the increase of buildings in the Parklands area pushing reptiles out of their environment.
‘We catch about three to four snakes a week,’ he told IOL. ‘I took the snake and left it in the bush about two kilometres away from Parklands.’
MacLeod also urged people to be wary of their surroundings, especially during the late spring and summer seasons when snakes are active due to the heat.
‘There is nothing anyone can do to repel snakes, except a tidy yard, with no rubble and man-made shelters and artificial water ponds that attract prey like mice and frogs,’ he told IOL, adding that his company had tested the efficacy of off-the-shelf chemicals and found that even those prove ineffective in repelling the reptiles.
This latest snake retrieval comes just before the South African National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) admitted to Daily Maverick that its stockpiles of snake (except boomslang), scorpion and spider antivenom have been depleted.
The laboratory service said the South African Vaccine Producers (SAVP) facility has been undergoing extensive infrastructure and equipment upgrades since late 2024.
‘Due to the extent of the work required, antivenom manufacturing processes had to be temporarily discontinued during the renovations,’ NHLS’s Mzi Gcukumana explained to the publication.
‘While in the middle of renovations, the project experienced delays due to postponed delivery of specialised equipment and the requirement to maintain required quality standards, both of which were aggravated by the rigorous regulatory environment for sterile manufacture.’
It was during this period in which the stockpiles depleted, leaving thousands of animals, South Africans and those in several sub-Saharan countries in extreme danger ahead of the upcoming Easter holidays – the second peak of snake season.
‘The NHLS is doing everything possible to speed up the final stages of the process to resume snakebite antivenom production and will keep providing updates on progress,’ concluded Gcukumana.
According to the Democratic Alliance’s Michele Clarke, South Africa records approximately 4 000 snakebites annually, with around 900 hospitalisations and 100 patients requiring antivenom.
‘A single snakebite can kill within hours – without access to antivenom, lives and limbs are being lost unnecessarily,’ said Clarke.
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Picture: Screenshot from video
