Snakes plague Belize City neighbourhood
It’s not exactly the kind of story I look forward to covering, but when the phone rings, I guess somebody has to answer it.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Imagine stepping inside your bathroom to take a well-deserved shower only to find a snake has beaten you to the tub. For the past two months residents in one southside neighbourhood have been literally chased out of their homes by boa constrictors or wowlas as they are locally known.
Natalie Gabb, Resident
“Very disturbing, very. We went to the City Council, we called the media and nothing has been done to the lot as yet. The only person who has helped us is the honourable Dickie Bradley, he sent some prisoners to chop it out.”
This is the adjacent lot on Kraal Road where the residents believe the snakes live. Although the yard has been cut, the snakes keep coming back. Today the people want the authorities to burn the lot in order to get ride of this most unwelcome neighbour.
Natalie Gabb
“So far in our house we have found about 12 snakes.”
Jacqueline Woods
“How do you sleep at nights?”
Natalie Gabb
“Very scary.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Where have you’ll been finding the snakes?”
Rusbell Hope, Resident
“Inside our houses, between clothes and things, under steps, the window side. They hand upside down.”
On Wednesday, Rusbell Hope came to the rescue of a neighbour who found this baby wowla inside her bedroom. Although Boa Constrictors are not poisonous, they are still feared by many people who just do not like snakes.
Marie Alvarez, Resident
“Yes, I was going under the bed to clean out the bottom and my mind told me to haul out a basket and look inside the basket and see what was going on with the boots. When I haul out the boots a snake was inside the boots.”
Jacqueline Woods
“You said when you were lifting the boots it was extremely heavy.”
Marie Alvarez
“And when I see the boots heavy, I told my son “Boy see what is in that boots.” And when I went to push my hand, he said “Ma no push your hand, it is a snake.”
Bernadette Ciau, Resident
“I gone to clean my bathroom and the shower curtain had a wowla. The wowla was curled up on the shower curtain. All I did was run and I gone and called my husband. He got up and he removed it.”
“I think maybe because of the water, it was looking for somewhere dry and it came through the bathroom window or something, it was in the bathroom.”
Some residents say they have also seen snakes trying to get into vehicles parked along the street.
One resident told News Five that they contacted the Belize City Council to send workers into the neighbourhood to burn the lot but so far nothing has been done.
