Snake Euthanized After Being Found In Sandys

July 7, 2016

A snake sighted in Sandys — which is believed to be a non-venomous Pueblan milk snake — was “humanely euthanized,” the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has confirmed, adding that the “introduction of snakes to the island’s natural environment could potentially be extremely harmful.”

A spokesperson said, “The Department of Environment and Natural Resources can confirm that a snake sighted in Sandys has been found.

“It is believed to be a non-venomous Pueblan milk snake, a kind of kingsnake, and was humanely euthanized.

“The public is advised that the introduction of snakes to the island’s natural environment could potentially be extremely harmful to both human health and safety and Bermuda’s delicate environment.

“As always, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources appreciates the public’s vigilance and rapid response to these types of sighting.

“The Department recommends that in the event that a member of the public sees a snake or any other unusual animal, the Bermuda Police Service should be called, and the BPS will in turn contact the Department’s Animal Control Section. For injured wildlife, please contact the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo at 293-2727.”

Live Snake Somerset Bermuda, July 6 2016

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Category: All, Environment, News

Comments (79)

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  1. Brainiac says:

    one of the most deadly snakes….black touches red your DEAD.Sad thing is people smuggle snakes in and keep them as pets and when they cant care for them they release them in the wild.I have seen pictures here! What we need is forpeople to turn in their snakes without any form of punishment or we may continue to find snakes in de bushes.

    • La says:

      *repeats* non venomous
      Did you miss that?

    • anonymous says:

      what are you talking about that is a non-venomous mountain snake and i don’t know where you got the information about colors and venom of a snake do your research first

    • Jon says:

      I think it goes “Red touch black, fried of Jack. Red touches yellow, kills a fellow”

    • Lexi says:

      You have it backwards. Red touches yellow, you’re a dead fellow, red touches black you’re ok jack.

    • Gbda says:

      Red Touches Yellow, Kills a Fellow
      Red Touches Black, Venom Lack

    • SMH says:

      Stop spreading mis-information. The saying goes,”Red touches black, you’re OK Jack; red touches yellow (or white), you’re a dead fellow.”

      That snake is harmless.

    • Seriously? says:

      Red touch yellow – kills a fellow
      Red touch black – venom lack

    • Monique says:

      You’ve got the rhyme wrong… Red and black is a friend of Jack, Red touches yellow you’re a dead fellow. (Or one of many similar variations).

      http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question73273.html

    • Onion Juice says:

      With ALL these boats coming in unchecked, Lord knows what else is on de island !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      • Real Deal says:

        True but a lot of the stuff like spider snakes come in on shipping containers. Most of the stowaways that come in on boats don’t like to saltwater to much.

        So unless you dock up that are not coming off the boat that easily.

        the only thing we should really worry about are copper heads.

        One thing we under sell/market to tourist in Bermuda is that there is nothing in Bermuda waters that’s is going to harm/kill/ maim you unless you go looking for them.

      • drunken ursula says:

        drugs of course

    • Brainiac says:

      I got it after the first person corrected me! Why does this have to become a debate…I WAS WRONG!! Geez Its nice to see that googles working today with all the experts….What do you have to say about people having them as pets? Some of you are probably guilty of this!

    • Trisha says:

      The have a huge market in Asia, it is very popular dish.

    • yahmon says:

      red touches black your ok jack red touches yellow your a dead fellow

    • Pequat 1609 says:

      Actually the term is red touching yells will kill a fella. I stand to be corrected but the snake you mention is the coral snake and it is indeed quite deadlybb

    • Charlie says:

      Idiot

  2. Hissy Fit says:

    Where there is one, there are many. I thought it was the deadly Coral Snake at first but okay, Im not an expert anyways. Milk snakes are cool they just eat rats and mice, which is nice! But coral snakes would have us dropping dead.

  3. Hissy Fit says:

    Um NO if it is a milk snake it is NOT one of the deadliest but one of the safest……….

  4. Snake is DEADLY says:

    Oh my Lord…. Environment is apparently unaware this IS A CORAL SNAKE!
    It is HIGHLY DEADLy, check out this from a snake site on how to tell Coral Snakes from Milk Snakes:

    “Know which snake is venomous and which is not. Coral snakes are highly venomous. On the other hand, milk snakes are harmless constrictors. Both snakes are often confused for each other.

    Look for the colors of the head. Coral snakes will usually have a black head, while milk snakes have a red head.

    Look for the stripe pattern. The pattern of the colors will help you to determine which snake you’re looking at.
    •Coral snakes have the pattern of Red, Yellow, Black, Yellow from their head to the tip of their tail. This snake is highly dangerous.
    •Milk snakes have the pattern of Black, Red, Black, Yellow/Beige.

    The easiest was to remember which snake is which is with this little rhyme: “Red touch Yellow, kill a fellow. Red touch black, friend of Jack.”

    — So as you can tell, THIS IS A DEADLY SNAKE!!!!!! Thanks Environment ministry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that guy got his snake rhyme backwards, sorry.

    • scoob says:

      No it’s not, look at the picture…

      • Brainiac says:

        THIS IS A CORAL SNAKE AND THERE ARE MANY TYPES!

        • Brainiac says:

          NO ITS NOT! NO ITS NOT SORRY!

          • Brainiac says:

            YES IT IS! YES IT IS!…..AHHH NAHH I DONT THINK SO….BUT LOOKIN AT IT AGAIN COULD BE! YES IT IS….ITS GOT BLACK IN IT! HMMM NOT SURE THOUGH!

            • Bullnose says:

              Why did you pick the name Braniac?
              You don’t seem ‘Brainy’ at all.
              How about if we call you ‘Stupidac’? It would seem to fit better.

        • Anbu says:

          No it isnt

        • Seriously? says:

          It is NOT a Coral snake!!

    • Iggrunce says:

      OK but you said above if red touches yellow: kill a fellow and from the pic of the snake the red isn’t touching yellow…sooooo…

    • Deep Dive says:

      Not a coral snake, just so you know.

    • yahmon says:

      completly wrong .

    • Full Fuulish says:

      Hold up- you look at that picture and see red, yellow, black as the pattern? Starting from the head?
      Its clearly black, red, black, yellow. You must be having a laugh!

    • Pequat 1609 says:

      Sorry you are wrong This snake is harmless milk snake.

      http://www.wildlife-removal.com/snakecolorrhyme.html

  5. Fantasea says:

    And should hv been put on display at the aquarium not killed.

    • Real Deal says:

      My personal view, the aquarium should only contain Bermudians not imports.

      • Pequat 1609 says:

        That’s a rather ignorant comment. Aquariums and zoos the world over have always housed foreign species whether they be big cats lions tigers etc or monkeys apes baboons to exotic fish This is how you educate and broaden people’s knowledge of wildlife. If we only housed local animals in our aquarium it would be pretty boring to say the least.

        • sage says:

          Keeping animals housed in cramped un-natural cages or enclosures is the worst way to teach our youth about wildlife.

        • Real Deal says:

          ignorant I think not its quite logical. Aquariums should educate tourist and locals about animal and plant life they can encounter while living or visiting Bermuda. and also tell them where in Bermuda they can see them in nature.

      • Terry says:

        “imports” ?

        Get a clue dood.

        Yoo full of Cahow Sheet…………………………..

  6. Dude says:

    While both milk snakes and coral snakes possess transverse bands of red, black and yellow, common mnemonics can be used to properly distinguish between the deadly coral snake and the harmless milk snake: “Red touches black, you’re OK Jack; red touches yellow, you’re a dead fellow.” “Red on yellow kills a fellow.

  7. bday says:

    where in Sandys was it found?

  8. Frank says:

    We cannot allow any type of snake to be in Bermuda. It probably came in a shipping container for overseas.

    • sage says:

      Aren’t there a couple at the Aquarium already?

      • AMonk says:

        Was just there yesterday. There are 2 snakes resident, both of the python/constrictor types.

        • sage says:

          Exactly, so why did they rush to “euthanize” this particular one?

    • Real Deal says:

      There is a simple fix. we just need to employ a few Bermudians cats at the shipping dock in town and at customs in St Goe.

  9. Who jock says:

    If red and yellow rings are touching it is a coral snake.

  10. Me says:

    Omg noway! Bermuda

  11. Deep Dive says:

    No option to create a glass enclosure at the zoo for an exhibit?? Poor guy.

  12. anni patti says:

    Actually we need non-venomous snakes in Bda to feed on the rats. The huge rat population in Bda does not have enough natural predators, especially since the feral cats are being fed unnaturally through a pro-active effort. The problems the rats give us are far more significant than those non-venomous snakes would; therefore i disagree with Environment/Natural Resources on this issue.

    • sage says:

      The widespread use of anti-coagulant rat poison has probably decimated the owl population too, so more rats and mice.

    • Family Man says:

      Trouble is that the snake will quickly learn that birds and their eggs are much easier to catch and eat than the rats. Then we’ll have rats, snakes and no birds.

    • Real Deal says:

      No! Bermudians first .. we have Bermudian cats for that and they are doing a mighty fine job. In areas like clear water that should and used to be over run with rats.

      • Seriously? says:

        Perhaps.. if people weren’t feeding them!!! Go watch at the feeding stations as these cats you speak of sit and allow one or two day old chicks to feed from their food bowls before they eat from them themselves. Its ridiculous! No snakes and NO FERAL CATS!!!

        • Real Deal says:

          Well I run to clear water all the time and it has been many many, many years and I have not seen any rats since the cat got there. back in the day the place was crawling with rats in the day time.
          and I have seen the feeding stations however I have not seen what you explained.

    • JCS says:

      So, we need this snake to kill rats. I guess this is a really bright snake that if you tell it to just kill rats, it will do just that! Never mind feeding on skinks (endangered) or blue birds (endangered), longtail and cahow chicks also. If this snake was released it would only be a matter of time before it went from one end of the island to the other. Think people before you make such silly statements.

    • Rose says:

      And what about people’s small pets????? We don’t need any dang snakes here. We have enough of two legged ones.

    • Terry says:

      Your talking about the two legged rats right.

    • Zevon says:

      This type of snake also eats birds, lizads and frogs.
      Introducing it in Bermuda would be a disaster.

    • ANONYMOUS says:

      For someone who is deathly afraid of snakes, I think NOT!

  13. Terry says:

    And when you run red your dead.
    When you run yellow your a lucky fella………………

    I need a rum.

  14. yahmon says:

    people are funny i used to play with an have been bitten numerous times. snake is harmless . RED MEETS BLACK YOUR OK JACK . RED MEETS YELLOW YOUR A DEAD FELLOW

  15. yahmon says:

    A coral snake (Micrurus tener tener) showing its characteristic red-yellow-black banding pattern. While generally shy and nonconfrontational, the snake’s neurotoxic venom can produce extreme pain, and even death.

    1
    Examine the snake’s ring pattern. Determine if red and yellow rings are touching; if so, this is a venomous coral snake.[1] This simple color check is the easiest way to tell the difference between a coral snake and a scarlet king snake in the US.
    On a coral snake, the ring pattern is red, yellow, black, yellow, red.
    In the case of a scarlet king snake, the ring pattern is red, black, yellow, black, red, or maybe blue

  16. Maddog says:

    How about we stick with the point of the story – CALLING ALL IDIOTS…. DO NOT RELEASE YOUR UNWANTED PETS INTO THE ENVIRONMENT – they can destroy an entire eco system

  17. Geingham says:

    That is no coral snake.

  18. Rhonnda O says:

    Sad they killed the snake. Too bad the aquarium couldn’t take it, or a someone who knows how to handle snakes.

    But given the poor parrots at the botanical gardens, a snake had no chance.

  19. Triangle Drifter says:

    How do you euthanise a snake? Give it a good slap with a shovel when it is not looking!?

    • Terry says:

      No fool.
      Take it dahn de Bus Ticket place and let de busus run owah hit…

    • jimbob says:

      brilliant lol

  20. Who Done it says:

    There are plenty of snakes in Bermuda Just head over to the Hill

  21. Longtail says:

    Just wondering if the Department of Environment can “humanely euthanize” a few two legged snakes while they are about it….. the venomous type of course!

  22. jimbob says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5-L8-3kT_U
    coral snake vs milk snake

  23. stunned... says:

    they found a snake eh? who?…crockwell???

  24. OBSERVER says:

    This comes as terrific news.

  25. Unus sed leo says:

    If red touches yellow…it is a coral snake….look before you leap…or you may find yourself suffrin like a boa constrictah
    ..