How to deal with snakes? Basic knowledge and attitudes of employees at a university in northeastern Brazil.

Abstract

Snakes are culturally rejected by the majority of the population. This rejection increases the number of deaths of these animals. Encounters between the workers and these animals are very common in the Campus do Pici, Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC). Thus, this study aims to evaluate the basic knowledge of such people about snakes found in the university area and the procedure performed in the encounters with these animals. The employees' knowledge was assessed using a semi-structured questionnaire conducted on 16 and 17 April 2013. Most of them would act properly in case of encounters with snakes and considers important the conservation of these animals. They do not know how to identify venomous snakes, although the media and academia work can serve as a source of information on this subject. However, further measures are needed to better target these employees regarding actions taken in the encounters with snakes. Therefore, this study provides subsidies for the development of future environmental education activities on the theme snakebite.