Meet The Conservationist With A Passion For Malta’s Snakes – And Here’s Why They Deserve More Love
Snakes are often misunderstood as a species in Malta, and many undoubtedly hold fears related to the sensitive creatures.
But snakes found on the Maltese islands are completely harmless, if anything, they’re more scared of humans than we’ll ever be of them – and they’re facing multiple threats that you need to know about.
Meet Ellie Dobbs, a conservationist with a passion for snakes, who’s working hard for snakes in Malta and has always been fascinated by the natural environment.
Ellie recently finished her Master’s degree in Conservation Biology at the University of Kent in the UK after completing her bachelor’s in Wildlife Conservation.
“I have been fascinated by the natural world for as long as I can remember and love being outdoors surrounded by wildlife and spent all my childhood trying to find all sorts of animals that lived in the bottom of my garden,” Ellie told Lovin Malta.
“I have been coming to Malta my entire life, and also spent a lot of my childhood in France. I think I loved how different Malta is from the UK and my family has such a strong attachment to the islands that I felt drawn to focus my master’s research here,” she expressed.
“I have also already lived here for a year during my bachelor’s degree to help rehabilitate loggerhead turtles.”
Which snakes are found in Malta?
Ellie explained how in Malta we have two native and two non-native snakes, the Leopard Snake (lifgħa), the Western Whip snake (serp iswed), the European cat snake (teleskopu) and the Algerian whipsnake (serp l-aħdar).
“Firstly the native Leopard Snake was described as scarce in 1996 in Malta and its distribution has remained largely unknown until now.”
“This is the species that is predominantly known for its associations with St Paul. It is also regarded as one of the most beautiful European snakes.”
“The second native species is the Western Whip snake – it is the most common and largest of the resident species and the only one known to reside on all three of the inhabited islands,” she explained.
“In terms of the naturalised species, the European cat snake is the only nocturnal and crepuscular (comes out at twilight) species found on Malta.”
“It was believed to have been introduced alongside the Algerian whipsnake (the second naturalised species) during the first world war in logging shipments into Floriana. However, my research may add to the debate about whether this theory remains true for the cat snake in particular.”
“The Algerian whipsnake is extremely rare and elusive and has largely been confined to Floriana, Valletta and Marsa, and Malta remains the only European country where this species is present which supports the theory it was accidentally introduced.”
Ellie explained how she had the privilege of working very closely with the local environmental NGO Nature Trust Malta and their rescue team, praising their dedicated work towards environmental matters.
All snake species are protected under Maltese Law whilst also having priority and endangered status designated by Nature Trust Malta.
Algerian whip snake
What threats do snakes face?
The main threats to the snake species include:
1. Habitat loss
2. Human persecution
3. Roadkill
4. Cat predation
5. Dog attacks
“The leopard snake is also subject to illegal capture for the pet trade throughout its native range; however, it is unknown how much this affects the Maltese populations.”
Juvenile western whip snake
And what about the research?
“What particularly drew me to this research was this unique assemblage of snake species which do not exist anywhere else in the world.”
“I, therefore, aimed to draw attention to the severe lack of data on Maltese snakes and hoped to describe their known presence across the archipelago, determine how natural and man-made landscape features and urbanisation may be impacting snake distributions.”
“Having spent a significant amount of time in Malta, I consider it to be a second home and really wanted to do some good and use my knowledge of conservation to help give back to a place I have such happy memories of.”
Ellie’s study involved using both citizen science and fieldwork where they collected records from members of the public primarily by collecting and qualifying social media records which then lead to many people continuing to send them new records throughout the research period.
“Without the significant input from the Maltese public, this research simply would not have been possible and I am extremely grateful for that.”
“I also conducted fieldwork across the Maltese Islands through surveys to try and find the snakes! I can confirm that they are a lot harder to find than you would think as encounters are often random.”
Leopard snake
“I would also be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous seeing all the public records come through of people stumbling across them while I was out trekking across the often very rugged terrain trying to find them every day!”
“I plotted all the records on maps and tried to see if there were any differences between species in terms of what factors might be influencing their distributions, for example, roads and water courses.”
Once her research is published, she looks forward to presenting in more detail the completed
distribution maps and giving more insight into her findings.
“Ultimately my research provides the most accurate distribution estimates for all four species to date and the first analysis of the Algerian whip snake in Europe. In future, the hope is that my results can be used alongside further research as well as making species distribution models that result in better planning decision making that prioritises and helps safeguard Maltese wildlife for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.”
Cat snake
Ellie conducted her research under an ERA permit, so she had special permission as part of her thesis to study these species and it is illegal for anyone without such a permit to handle wildlife, it is also illegal to disturb or harm any Maltese wildlife including snakes.
“They are harmless creatures and therefore it’s important to remember they are significantly more scared of you than you are of them, so it is always best to leave them alone and enjoy getting to watch them from afar when you get the privilege to spot one!),” she stressed.
However, if you find an injured snake or any animal (excluding birds which would require you to contact Birdlife Malta) please call the Nature Trust Malta rescue team on 99999505
Snake photographs captured by Nick Dobbs
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