Venomous boomslang rescued from a south coast beach

A “lost and confused” deadly boomslang snake was rescued from the Winklespruit beach, Durban, at the weekend.

The snake was about 1.5m long.

Police called Durban-based snake catcher Nick Evans to the scene and identified the snake as a tree snake.

“It was strange to find it at the beach. But I think it was lost because it looked so confused. It wasn’t aggressive, but when provoked it can cause real harm. It would swim every now and then,” said Evans.

The snake was relocated to a safer place.

According to the South African National Biodiversity Institute, the name “boomslang” is Afrikaans for "tree snake’. The snake is usually found in trees and shrubs, hence the name boomslang. The Afrikaans name has also been adopted as the official English name of this snake.