JOHANNESBURG — South Africa is a hub for the international pet trade, with thousands of animals exported each year. Many of these are exotic birds and mammals like parrots and marmosets, bred locally ...

When someone says “giant snake,” your brain probably jumps straight to a movie scene — you know, a huge slithery beast lurking in the jungle, ready to snatch a person like it’s grabbing a snack.

Venomous snakebite is "the biggest public health crisis you've never heard of," said former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as he was working to get the issue onto the global health agenda in 2015.

This snake statue is one of eight that loomed in a Geneva Park during May's World Health Assembly — drawing attention to the new initiative to fight snakebite. The colors used are those of the ...