FOR most people, even catching sight of a snake is enough to send shivers down the spine.<\/p>\n
But for a Civil Defence Force (APM) woman officer in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, confronting venomous reptiles is simply part of the job.<\/p>\n
Over her 16-year career, Second Lieutenant (PA) Farah Nadia Abdullah, 38, has handled more than 700 snake cases, including highly venomous species such as king cobras and monocled cobras.<\/p>\n
Farah Nadia said courage and a deep understanding of reptile behaviour were essential to ensuring the safety of both officers and the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned from a colleague skilled in snake handling how to read their behaviour and safely tame them,\u201d she told Bernama.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I receive an emergency call, I always ask whether the snake has been hit, because it tends to be more aggressive afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I arrive at a scene, I observe the snake\u2019s position and movements first to assess its level of aggression.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest to handle are king cobras because of their fierce nature and rapid movements,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She added that her affinity for snake handling was inspired by her late grandfather Tahir Bidin, once a renowned snake catcher.<\/p>\n
With her natural talent and professional APM training, Farah Nadia is determined to show that women can excel in a field long dominated by men.<\/p>\n
Junior Officer (PA) Nurin Qurratu Ain Norrozi said some people had questioned her decision to join APM, saying women like her should be in the kitchen or an office.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I show them how passionate I am about this work and my desire to help as many people as possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
APM deputy director (Operations) Major (PA) Mohd Hafiz Asikin said 100 of the state\u2019s 380 personnel were women, with almost all trained to handle venomous animals.<\/p>\n
He said all new recruits must complete basic and venomous animal handling courses at either the state training centre or APM headquarters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOR most people, even catching sight of a snake is enough to send shivers down the spine. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[191673,41220,3024,111,139,69,2341,147,9538,191674,8812,406,2248],"class_list":{"0":"post-364566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-apm","9":"tag-capture","10":"tag-courage","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-personnel","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-snakes","17":"tag-terengganu","18":"tag-training","19":"tag-wildlife","20":"tag-women"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}