Heat Wave Sparks Scorpion and Snake Surge in Morocco: Urgent Call for Anti-Venom Supplies

"The significant rainfall recorded before the summer, mainly in March and April, has contributed to a strong proliferation of several species of wildlife, scorpions and reptiles in many douars, villages and urban peripheries [...] This is natural within the framework of ecological balances," warned the national coordinator of the Civil Coalition for the Mountain to Hespress. According to him, this reality imposes a strengthening of precautionary measures this year, both on the part of citizens and the authorities, whether it is awareness-raising or the provision of basic health care and services.

Faced with this reality, the official concluded that "urgent supplies of sufficient quantities of anti-venoms, absent in several clinics, must be provided, and any supply disruption in a context of increased proliferation of reptiles this year must be avoided. [...] The adaptation of scorpions, snakes and others to climate variations must be accompanied by an adaptation of interventions and health services".

A civil actor from the commune of Ounain, in the province of [Taroudant], confirms: "the rainfall recorded a few weeks before the rise in temperatures this year has caused a multiplication of scorpions and snakes. [...] They are very numerous [...] This has led to an increase in the number of bite cases in the region". He confided that he himself was recently a victim of a snake bite, and had to go to the hospital in Agadir. "A young girl from the rural commune of Tizi N’test, in the same province, was also bitten by a snake," he said.

This former provincial coordinator of the Moroccan Association of Civil Rescue also confided that when he was in office, he had repeatedly requested the provincial council to provide anti-venom serum as well as vaccines against canine rabies, but these requests remained unanswered. The council "does allocate a budget to address this issue, but the beneficiaries in the affected areas remain poorly identifiable," he added, stressing that "this issue, in all rural and mountainous areas, has not yet received the attention it deserves; some have died and others have suffered serious after-effects from these bites in recent years".