Year Book British Library 2002/2003
SNAKE CONSERVATION...
...Rupert Wilkey is an expert on African snakes. He’s just published the first volumes
of a seven part series, A Checklist of African Snakes, a groundbreaking work aimed
at ecologists, agriculturalists and the medical profession. He has worked extensive-
ly in the Map Library, and says, ‘I use the considerable collection of African maps to
check locations and sightings of snakes. Geoff, Nicola, Cathy, Debbie, Sol and Carlos
are extremely helpful and have assisted me greatly over the past ten years.’
The study of African snakes is important because they’re is field-testing a prototype CD in Malawi by capturing
a vital part of the ecology and economy: they control snakes, feeding their data into the CD and confirming
the rodent population, which, if left unchecked, can he can get a good match. It’s also being tested
reach plague proportions and devastate cereal crops. at Blessings Hospital, a local clinic outside Lilongwe.
Destruction of snakes’ natural habitat, caused by agri- Rupert says, ‘the CD’s getting a good response. Nothing
culture, mining, deforestation for the timber trade and like this has ever been done, and medical people are
firewood as human settlement encroaches, seriously welcoming the initiative. It should greatly reduce the
threatens their numbers, which can have profound number of deaths from snake bite that happen every
implications for communities. year.’
Rupert has also made considerable use of the Science Knowledge about snake species and their distribution in
Reading Rooms, which have, he says, ‘a fantastic range Malawi is incomplete: some species are unique to the
of rare reports and research papers country, most have not been studied
about snakes, published in all sorts of for decades, and some had never
strange places.’ He has almost ‘The most important been recorded until Rupert’s study
completed production of a CD-Rom, aspect of my work is to was published. Understanding of
A Guide to the Snakes of Malawi, their ecological importance is limited.
and intends to develop this to detail make knowledge of snake As Victor Msiska, the Regional
all 750 snake species in Africa. conservation as accessible Forestry Officer in Mzuzu, with
whom Rupert has been working,
The first edition of the CD will be dis-
as possible. The Library’s says, ‘the destruction of the natural
tributed free to all the medical cen- services are excellent habitat is a major threat to the sur-
tres in Malawi. Rupert says, ways to make sure that vival and conservation of our bio-
‘most Malawians consider all snakes logical diversity. Destruction of the
dangerous, and will kill them on happens.’ habitat is often done by our village
sight. Nine of the 67 species communities in search of basic
recorded in Malawi are venomous, Rupert Wilkey, author of needs. Provision of information and
A Checklist of African Snakes
including several types of cobra training and small scale community
and the Black and Green Mambas. projects would go some way along
Few medics are trained in the treatment of snake the road to addressing the problem.’
bites, and to give a victim the wrong anti-venom can
be fatal.’ Rupert’s publisher, the Richard Terrell Society, is helping
the Forestry Department in Malawi find ways to encour-
Medical staff will use the CD to identify the symptoms age local people to develop crops and enterprises that
of all types of snake bite, or to identify the snake from leave the forests – and the habitats – intact. It’s also
its markings, colour, fang-type or scale counts. There building a body of knowledge about conservation
are pictures of all the recorded types and features, and practices, and promoting the exchange of information
step-by-step guides to treatment for each. Rupert about local initiatives.
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