“Please don’t touch any further than half way up its body please,” he quips. Over the course of a couple hours, the group encounters nine different snakes: three bamboo pit vipers two diamondback water snakes one bicolored stream snake a mock viper a greater green and the many-banded krait, whose diaphanously soft midriff Sargent holds out for attendees to stroke. “Where else can you go from a 50-floor building to a tropical jungle so quickly?” “You get this great feeling that you can escape from the city,” says Loïc Sorgho, a 42-year-old French banker.

“You go from being repulsed to actively looking out for these beautiful creatures,” she explains.įor others, the experience underlines the unique contrasts available in Hong Kong: towering skyscrapers beside exotic nature. One tour attendee and member of the Facebook group, Michelle Yu, who moved to Hong Kong from Washington DC nine years ago, says that her perception of snakes has completely transformed thanks to the community. The result is that across China nearly all of the larger snake species are classified as vulnerable, threatened or endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, which tracks the conservation status of the world’s plant and animal species.īut thanks to Sargent - who has given talks at local schools and set up a Facebook group, Hong Kong Snakes (whose 15,000 members exchange photos, information and advice about snake encounters) - snakes are shedding that fearful reputation. In Hong Kong, snakes are eaten in a soup, used in traditional Chinese medicine, or are otherwise simply viewed as a menace. That policy change has proven an uphill struggle amid a complex cultural context. As of August, he’s the first expert to participate in a “Rapid Release Program” - meaning that rather than have to go through a days-long, bureaucratic procedure of sending a captured snake to a police station and further facilities, he can release it in the nearest country park, reducing workload and keeping the snakes far healthier. While Hong Kong is a global metropolis nearly as large as Los Angeles, containing some of the most densely populated districts in the world, about 40% of its landmass is protected country parks, meaning its 7.3 million residents often come into contact with wildlife, including more than 50 snake species in the city - from the potentially deadly King Cobra to the Burmese Python, which can grow to over 26 feet.įor his part, Sargent receives callouts every week to capture snakes everywhere from schools to prisons to homes, and once, a beach on Lantau Island to ensnare a 15-foot python. But sadly, many snakes are killed because of fear.” “If you’re sensible, there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s just by circumstance, like a fish jumping in your boat,” he says. “The vast majority of snakes that show up in your house don’t want to live there. Besides fulfilling his own interest, the guided tours are a way for Sargent to combat stigma, improve awareness and build appreciation of snakes. The Brit moved to the city at the age of two, honing a passion for herpetology - the study of amphibians and reptiles - while exploring Hong Kong’s lush subtropical landscapes as a teen.

Pit vipers black out