5 February 2020
www.thevillagenews.co.za
Hermanus youngster joins fight against poaching Writer & Photographer Taylum Meyer
I
have loved animals ever since I can remember. I used to watch wildlife shows on TV and anything that had Steve Irwin in it – he was definitely one of my biggest idols,” recalls Corné Uys (19), while we sit in his garden with his bearded dragon, Lucy, a few days before his departure to Hoedspruit in Limpopo.
This latest adventure in the life of Hermanus’s intrepid snake catcher and wildlife enthusiast will entail six weeks of military training with the anti-poaching company, PROTRACK, after which he hopes to pursue a career in wildlife conservation. Corné’s passion for wildlife started when he was seven years old. That was when he moved from Cape Town to Berghof with his parents and first became interested in snakes. At that time, Berghof was still mostly undeveloped, which meant that there was a lot of wildlife for young Corné to enjoy.
and started to help with call-outs before starting his own company, Corné Uys Outdoors at the age of 17. That was two years ago and since then Corné has undertaken hundreds of call-outs, one of the most memorable being for a black spitting cobra in Sandbaai (The Village NEWS 15 January). Many Hermanus residents may also remember Corné being all over the news after the terrible fires we had in the Overstrand last year, when he saved 33 tortoises in Fernkloof from being burnt alive. At the time he was in matric at Hermanus High School. “We were at school when the fire came over the mountain and we were evacuated immediately,” he recalls. “The moment I got home I went to my dad and told him that we had to do something to help. He took some convincing, but we ended up grabbing some water, jumping in the bakkie and driving to the area behind the golf estate, where the fire had almost reached the road. I just covered my face with my hand, ran into the smoke, picked up a few tortoises which were already so hot that they burnt my hands, and then ran back to the bakkie, where we poured water over them to cool them down.”
Corné with two of his snakes, Ashley (ball python) and Snowy (corn snake), his bearded dragon (Lucy) and his “I remember I caught my first snake just tortoise (Jumbo) in their garden. after we moved here. It was an adult slugeater, which I brought home to His love for wildlife has grown even more show my parents and then released,” he since then – if that’s possible! Having graduHowever, the moment he had picked it up and says, smiling at the memory. “For the next two had it by the tail he realised catching and safely ated from Hermanus High last year, Corné has years after that I brought home lots of snakes, now embarked on a new chapter. releasing snakes was what he wanted to do. frogs and lizards which wandered around my He held the snake long enough for Dean to room.” He left for Hoedspruit in Limpopo on Tuesday, get a photo and then carefully released it back and over the next six weeks he’ll be undergounder the trough. When he got home, he told When he moved with his family to the more ing tough military training which includes a his parents what had happened, showed them urbanised area of Westcliff in Hermanus, Corné Level 3 First Aid Course, basic firefighting, adstopped bringing home animals for a while, but the photo – much to their horror – and told his passion for them never died. A family friend, them that he wanted to go into the business of vanced snake handling (something he should excel at!), weapons competency, tracking of snake removals. Chris Barnes who owned over 500 snakes in humans and formation tracking, self-defence, Baardskeerdersbos, taught Corné how to idencamouflage, recognising game poisoning, genHis parents, who are also animal lovers, suptify snakes, although he was never allowed to eral bush knowledge and much more. ported his decision on one condition: Corné handle them, as many were dangerous. would go for training on snake handling at the This training is extremely challenging and African Snakebite Institute. A few years later, at the age of 16 (and by now according to Corné’s dad, Hugo, only one in very much in love with snakes), Corné and his five trainees makes it through the programme. The training consisted mostly of theory, and friend, Dean visited a farm in Stanford, taking (For more information you can visit protrackalthough at 16 he was the youngest in his along a homemade snake hook made from apu.co.za/anti-poaching-training-courses/) class, Corné performed extremely well, ending an old broom and a paint roller, in hopes of Should Corné be successful, he will have a brief as one of the best in his group. He was also spotting a few snakes. Corné got more than he break back in Hermanus before he is stationed bargained for though, when they looked under the only student who was allowed to handle snakes with the instructor, having already been somewhere in Africa. a trough and found a two-metre-long Cape catching snakes, albeit harmless ones, since the Cobra. In Corné's absence his dad, Hugo, can be conage of seven. tacted on 062 482 5410 for snake removals, At this point, Corné had not yet handled a or you can contact Johnathan from Snake He joined Johnathan Powers at Snake Removdangerous snake and he was nervous as he Removals Hermanus on 082 352 6000. als Hermanus shortly after the course ended attempted to get it onto his make-shift hook.
5
