My Dad and a Fer-de-lance

Just thought I'd say this picture my Dad emailed me today...

Background: In his retirement, my dad started a new business traveling the world to photo- and video-document missonary work on site, which he then prepares as slide shows and videos which the missionary organization can use for promotion, description, etc. of their work.

Last year, he went to Costa Rica to document the work of a neat organization that sends American (and I believe Canadian) doctors into extremely secluded areas of the jungle to help provide free medical services to the national peoples of the region. Neat stuff - two day hike just to get these places.

Anyway, these jungles are full of big scary snakes, as you well know!

When I told Dad that Rick and I about our new baby girl, he emailed this photo from his Costa Rican trip. It was taken the last day while they were at the village of a 9' fer-de-lance that the guide had seen within a few yards of their campsite. Unfortunately (for the snake), the animal had to be killed, but like, wow...check this dude out...

http://www.onlinethingy.com/files/cass/ferdelance.jpg

(In the photo is one of the doctors on the trip and the American liason guide).

On the same trip, they also encountered a bushmaster while hiking in and Mom, amazingly, stepped on the damn thing and it didn't strike. /shudder

That's one big snake. I was just watching AP yesterday and Jeff Corwin was in Costa Rica mucking around with a huge Fer-de-lance....that thing could've easily killed him.

Quite the pretty snakes, too bad it had to be killed.

And why, may i ask did the snake HAVE to be killed?????!!!! Couldn't they just let it be??? The snake is/was a beauty, but would be much more so alive and left alone in the wild.

What a beautiful creature. I love all snakes in the bothrops genus.

It's a shame it had to be killed. It would most likely have just gone it's own way and not harmed anyone.. but I can understand being afraid of them.

:( Had to be killed? I'm sure.

I'm sure there weren't any handy-dandy herpetologists in the group to catch a 9' fer-de-lance safely and let it go...

Killed ... left alone ... does it really matter at this point?

-adam

I'm not defending the decision to kill it, but as far as I know, it was killed by the guide liason in the village. I can only surmise, since I was not there, that he had enough past experience with fer-de-lances that once one wandered into the village, the threat to their livestock and human population was enough to kill it.

Dunno, just thought I'd share the picture because it was interesting.

thanks for sharing, that was neat.
I think it was killed for just the reason you suggested.
No one w/ skill to remove and relocate and the locals can't afford for some one to get bitten as it WILL result in death.
Think about it!
It's called safety.

plus (not that it's a good reason to kill something) i'm pretty sure there are plenty fer-de-lance's around... better the snake than, say, a small child.