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Out of bushes, closer to homes: Snakebites go unreported in Greater Jakarta
Indonesia is home to more than 70 types of poisonous snakes, but cases of bites are still underreported.
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Up close: Green pit vipers are responsible for most venomous snakebites on Java. (-/-)
T
he death of a security guard in a housing area in South Tangerang, Banten, has raised alarm about snake attacks in urban areas, amid a dwindling of agricultural fields and forests, the natural habitat of the reptile.
A security guard named Iskandar, 46, died after his finger was bitten by a venomous weling (Malayan krait), at Gading Serpong housing complex on Aug. 20. He started playing with the snake at around 7:30 p.m. He later got bitten on his finger and fainted moments later. After being rushed to hospital, he was pronounced dead at 4:30 a.m. the next day.
It was not the first time a snake has been found in the residential area, which is located near the Cisadane River, which residents suspect to be a habitat of the snakes. But as snakebites receive less attention from officials, cases are poorly recorded, let alone prevented.
Sandra Larasati, an official at the South Tangerang Food Security, Agriculture and Fisheries Agency, dismissed the concern about rising cases of snake attacks.
“There have been no reports yet [of snakes],” she told The Jakarta Post at her office.
The Jakarta Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA Jakarta), which covers Jakarta, Bekasi in West Java, Tangerang, and South Tangerang in Banten, recorded that there were 16 reports of nonvenomous snakes, mostly pythons, since January.
Python attacks are also common outside Java. In Sulawesi, there have even been reports of pythons swallowing humans.
