Staff members of an O‘ahu home advancement store acquired a slithery surprise from a pallet hitchhiker before this week.
According to a news release from the state Office of Agriculture, a reside snake was captured late Wednesday evening, July 6, at the Kapolei House Depot. Honolulu police officers, responding to a 911 connect with from retailer workforce at about 11 p.m., used a bucket to capture the snake, which was noticed on a pallet in a delivery container of mixed products.
The snake was taken to the Kapolei Law enforcement Station, where by agricultural inspectors from the DOA took custody Thursday morning, July 7. Agriculture inspectors from the DOA Plant Quarantine Department also went to the retailer to survey the region and educated the retailer to contact the DOA if any other hitchhiking animals had been noticed.
The snake, identified by reptile professionals as a non-venomous juvenile gopher snake, actions about 21 inches extensive. Gopher snakes are identified in North The united states and can expand up to about 7 toes. Their diet program is made up of small rodents, young rabbits, lizards, birds and their eggs. The snakes destroy their prey by constriction and suffocation.
Snakes are unlawful to have in Hawai‘i. They have no organic predators and pose a major risk to the state’s ecosystem.
The DOA reminds the general public that all those with illegal animals can turn them in underneath the state’s Amnesty Application to any DOA office, the Honolulu Zoo, the Pana‘ewa Zoo in Hilo or any humane culture, no questions questioned and no fines assessed. The maximum penalty under condition law for possession and/or transporting illegal animals is a Class C felony, punishable by up to a $200,000 fantastic and up to three many years in prison.
Any individual with information about unlawful animals should connect with the statewide toll-cost-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378). Sightings or captures of illegal animals or invasive species must also be described to the hotline.