Alex
I was sitting on the floor of my room, unpacking, with my back to the door. I was enjoying a few minutes of calm before the boys would return from the jungle for lunch. I had been cooking all morning but finished a few minutes earlier than our planned meal time.
How nice to do a little nesting in our house, after being gone so long.
I heard the front door open, and Alex's footsteps across the floor. He walked over towards my room, and I could tell he stopped in my doorway.
"Hey, Alex," I said, without turning around.
There was no reply.
I turned around.
Alex stood in my doorway with a seven foot long boa constrictor wrapped around his neck. The snake's head was missing, there was only a bloody stump.
I didn't have any words. I thought, that is a very big snake.
Alex grinned at me.
Finally, I said, "Are you okay? Is everyone okay?"
"Oh, we're fine," he said. He told me he saw the snake while clearing land out in the jungle, and cut its head off with his chainsaw before finding out whether it was dangerous or not.
I wrinkled up my nose. "Alex, that thing is dripping snake blood on my floor."
He looked down, still grinning. "It's only one drop."
Although we refused to let Alex store the snake in the living room until he had time to skin it, he got away with leaving it in the back storage room, so the dogs couldn't chew it up.
Several times that day John and I jumped in surprise and fear when we opened the back door and saw that beastly serpent lying there on the floor; we couldn't seem to remember that it was no longer living.
Later that night Doctor saw the snake. He told us that it was a rare type of boa, a rainbow boa, and that if we had kept it alive we could have sold it for $1000 to a serpentarium. Even the tiny babies sell for $500.
Now Alex goes to the jungle with a big rice sack, just in case.
How nice to do a little nesting in our house, after being gone so long.
I heard the front door open, and Alex's footsteps across the floor. He walked over towards my room, and I could tell he stopped in my doorway.
"Hey, Alex," I said, without turning around.
There was no reply.
I turned around.
Alex stood in my doorway with a seven foot long boa constrictor wrapped around his neck. The snake's head was missing, there was only a bloody stump.
I didn't have any words. I thought, that is a very big snake.
Alex grinned at me.
Finally, I said, "Are you okay? Is everyone okay?"
"Oh, we're fine," he said. He told me he saw the snake while clearing land out in the jungle, and cut its head off with his chainsaw before finding out whether it was dangerous or not.
I wrinkled up my nose. "Alex, that thing is dripping snake blood on my floor."
He looked down, still grinning. "It's only one drop."
Although we refused to let Alex store the snake in the living room until he had time to skin it, he got away with leaving it in the back storage room, so the dogs couldn't chew it up.
Several times that day John and I jumped in surprise and fear when we opened the back door and saw that beastly serpent lying there on the floor; we couldn't seem to remember that it was no longer living.
Later that night Doctor saw the snake. He told us that it was a rare type of boa, a rainbow boa, and that if we had kept it alive we could have sold it for $1000 to a serpentarium. Even the tiny babies sell for $500.
Now Alex goes to the jungle with a big rice sack, just in case.
posted by Ansley at 11:18 AM
8 Comments:
Alex is clearly a resourcful chap. I never stopped to think what an effective weapon a chainsaw really is...
Of course it would be no problem to coerce a giant boa into a rice sack...no problem at all...
No I don't think it would be too much of a problem to bag the snake - it was rather sluggish and I could have cut a forked stick to pin its head with exerting a lot less effort than I did to cut the head off. Then, due to its coiling reflex (which was still active half an hour after its decapitation) it would coil up around the stick so that a the dogfood sack we brought out could go over top of it... at least thats how I'd like to think it will work... we'll see
sounds like a plan. please keep us posted
um, he chopped his head off with a chainsaw?! g-r-o-s-s!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ansley, I love your fountain of pure, entertaining and informative prose and photos. I don’t wish to discourage them in any way. I deleted this comment once upon thinking better of it, but now am again drawn towards the decision of posting it. I hope it does not affect the way in which you report the goings on of your mission post. Also, I have nothing against your wonderful team member, Alex, as I don’t know him but for your shared words and he seems like a terrific fellow. However, having another perspective can sometimes be helpful and that’s all I wish to do. I know that the immediate neediness of your mission may seem to overshadow the insignificants of jungle life, but keeping your mind, in all its perspicacity, tuned to the needs of the jungle as well as your own is never a bad idea. (I know, easy for me to say in my distinctly non mission suburban America. And yet I write anyway…)
Dear Resourceful Chap Alex,
Seeing that you wisely read the comments to Ansley’s blog, I leave you a note towards your resourcefulness. The crime has been done, hardly a need to chastise for its sake now, although it is a shame the chance meeting came about as it is surely a rare animal indeed (not for its species’ few numbers, necessarily, but for it being found in the wild and it being found so large—as seven feet is the upper limit of recorded size for its kind.) A word for a chance future meeting; how about leaving the rare serpent in the jungle where maybe it can find itself a rare mate and make rare babies instead of becoming endangered? I know you are just exercising your right to have dominion over all the earth, but my guess is that now that you know the thing is sluggish and not bound to harm you it would be safe to suggest that upon seeing one in the future you give it berth and leave it to its own special rights as well. (Like, for example, its right to unimpeded existence.) There are plenty of readily available rainbow boas that can be bred in captivity and capitalizing on its kidnap from the wild would be an upset to the ecosystem and in turn thoughtless squander of the jungle’s resources. I applaud the good deeds you do in the Peruvian Jungle. Hopefully you will not balance them out with some needlessly destructive ones.
Your Concerned Californian Conservationist,
Amberley
Amberley:
I appreciate your concern, I too am a bit of a conservationist and have moved countless "creatures" out of harms way (after taking their picture) as well as being an amature birder. I definately agree that it was foolish for me to kill the snake (although if you saw a huge unidentified snake in near proximity to your feet you very may well have done the same thing). I also must admit that I have mixed feelings about the the work we are doing in which I came in contact with the snake - in case you are not aware, we are in the process of clearing about fifty acres of jungle to be replanted with fruit trees. I believe in the project and what we are doing yet I do wish we were not destroying that habitat. That being said, if I were to encounter another boa I could attempt to catch it, and sell it to a serpentarium for the appreciation of all, or I could leave it where it will be killed by a clearing fire the next day.
Another way I could justify it is that a thousand dollars would do a lot for the project... a project that will teach countless remote village dwellers a trade that won't involve selling off their lumber (and thus destroying much more habitat).
You have a very good point, and if I were not here, and a part of the situation, I would probably be horrified myself, but as things stand now I will sell the next snake to come along if the opportunity arises.
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