He’s the Top Snake Catcher, and Business Is Booming. There’s Just One Problem.

Bangkok’s firefighters do more snake catching than firefighting, and Pinyo Pukpinyo trains them. But he refuses to kill the snakes, and he’s running out of containers. Once you see a snake in Bangkok, the snakiest capital in the world, you see snakes everywhere. Loops of electrical wire look like snakes. Gas pump hoses look like snakes. Vines, green and vibrant, look like snakes. There are also, as Pinyo Pukpinyo knows, a lot of actual snakes. In Bangkok each year, about 30,000 snakes are caught by fire and rescue personnel. On an average half-day shift, Mr. Pinyo, the top snake catcher...