Ras Al Khaimah’s reptile menace claims a life

For residents of Ras Al Khaimah, they are under attack.

A rodent and reptile infestation has people pretty much wringing their hands in despair.

The situation has only been exacerbated  with the death of a 40-year-old Indian in Ras Al Khaimah due to a snake bit.

This despite the victim, T Prabhakaran, undergoing anti-venom treatment at Sakhr Hospital.

“He was bitten by a poisonous snake near his home. While he was undergoing treatment, he died on Saturday,” a family friend told this website.

Sreekumar Prasad from the Social Welfare Committee of Sevenam, an Indian organisation in Ras Al Khaimah, said “Prabhakaran was bitten by a snake while he was going to the toilet. He stepped onto a snake, which could have been there to drink water from a leaking water pipe. Many such cases have been reported by the community in summer.”

Ras Al Khaimah residents have been complaining that snakes, spiders, rats and other reptiles entering their homes this year and the emirate’s civil defence have been busy.

A recent media report quoting Saif Hamed Al Mazrui, an Emirati resident of Al Mamourah who lives with his wife and four children in their new house, said his housemaid  spotted a brown snake about a metre long, which was hiding inside their kitchen.

Calls to pest control companies have multiplied as have calls to snake experts.

Kamal Farid of Atlas Pest Control specialises in handling poisonous snakes.

“We have got many calls about snakes from the Al Zaith and Al Oraibi area,” he said.

Rat attack

Rats are the other problem. Last week this website reported how women and children are scared after reports that rats are threatening to over-run residential areas.

Gulf Today quoted residents as saying, “the rat problem is “a danger to public health and safety and to the aesthetic appearance of the city.”

Mohammed Abdullah, who stays in the Dafan area of Ras Al Khaimah, says that he has seen a large number of rats in the area where he lives.

“They appear in front of cars and can be seen in the headlights,” he said.

According to him, the rats also break into houses through the doors and windows and then “tear up clothes, spoil food and contaminate the house as a whole.”

“It really is a danger to society,” added Abdullah.

Ahmed Al Shehi, another resident, said that concerned bodies at the municipality should intensify their efforts to get rid of rats by putting a plan into place. He advised that the plan should be implemented in all regions of the emirate to get rid of rodents.

With summer here residents have seen an overall increase in the number of insects and reptiles, including lizards and snakes.

Some residents said they have on several occasions called the Operations Room of the RAK Department of Civil Defence to come to their rescue after spotting snakes and other dangerous and scary reptiles hiding inside their houses.

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