Dean Gallagher: snake man of Ibiza
With invasive snakes out of control in Ibiza, and local lizards heading for extinction, British-Australian Dean Gallagher has battled to return the island to its previous snake-free state. This has not been easy for Dean, who suffered nightmares about snakes in the early part of his campaign. Even now he performs a ritual to calm each creature before killing it, and says he would prefer to export them back to the mainland if this were permitted. Dean describes vividly the impact snakes have had, with some parts of the island now denuded of birds and lizards, where the only sound is the slithering and hissing of snakes hiding in the undergrowth. I met Dean at a finca near Santa Eularia where the gentle giant had just rescued a drowning baby rabbit from the pool.