What to do when you encounter a snake while hiking

WITH more Malaysians taking up hiking as a recreational sport, encounters with wild animals will become more commonplace. Therefore, I ask this of all hikers, what is the right thing to do when one has a chance meeting with, say, a snake along a jungle trail?

There have been many incidents at Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, when hikers and walkers came across snakes along the trail which, unfortunately, ended up in the snakes being beaten to death.