Live Gopher Snake Found at Home Depot on O’ahu

Staff of an O‘ahu property advancement retail store obtained a slithery shock from a pallet hitchhiker previously this 7 days.

According to a news release from the condition Division of Agriculture, a stay snake was captured late Wednesday evening, July 6, at the Kapolei Property Depot. Honolulu law enforcement officers, responding to a 911 phone from retailer staff at about 11 p.m., employed a bucket to capture the snake, which was noticed on a pallet in a shipping container of combined items.

The snake was taken to the Kapolei Police Station, where by agricultural inspectors from the DOA took custody Thursday morning, July 7. Agriculture inspectors from the DOA Plant Quarantine Branch also went to the retail store to survey the location and educated the store to speak to the DOA if any other hitchhiking animals have been spotted.

The snake, discovered by reptile gurus as a non-venomous juvenile gopher snake, measures about 21 inches extensive. Gopher snakes are discovered in North The united states and can increase up to about 7 toes. Their eating plan is composed of compact rodents, young rabbits, lizards, birds and their eggs. The snakes get rid of their prey by constriction and suffocation.

Snakes are illegal to have in Hawai‘i. They have no natural predators and pose a major danger to the state’s ecosystem.

The DOA reminds the general public that those with illegal animals can change them in less than the state’s Amnesty Application to any DOA place of work, the Honolulu Zoo, the Pana‘ewa Zoo in Hilo or any humane modern society, no concerns asked and no fines assessed. The optimum penalty less than point out regulation for possession and/or transporting illegal animals is a Class C felony, punishable by up to a $200,000 wonderful and up to a few years in jail.

Everyone with information and facts about unlawful animals should contact the statewide toll-cost-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378). Sightings or captures of illegal animals or invasive species must also be claimed to the hotline.