Cairns snake removers discover 3 large pythons in abandoned warehouse

Snakes unexpectedly turning up inside electric sockets and canned food surprised people in Australia and the US the past few days. However, snake removers in Australia said that people should not be surprised if the reptile shows up in an abandoned building.

An empty edifice has all the elements for snakes to move in and inhabit, say David Walton, owner of Cairns Snake Removals. Walton and a colleague responded on Monday to a call that an abandoned building at Trinity Park, scheduled for demolition, possibly harbors wildlife.

The developer’s instinct was right because Walton found two amethystine pythons measuring 4.5 metres and a third one measuring 2 metres hiding inside the building’s rafters. He says because two- and three-metre pythons are common in Cairns, which is a mixture of bushlands and suburbs, it is not surprising to find such creatures in the area. However, there are not that many four- and five-metres pythons.

Walton shares that the reason snakes chose to stay in abandoned buildings is it is quiet and closer to wallabies, one of their favourite meals. He explains, “They don’t get annoyed, they don’t get disturbed. It is shelter, who wants to sleep in a tree when you can sleep in someone’s roof.”

He safely relocated the three pythons. However, in the case of Massachusetts, residents are wary of a state plan to relocate rattlesnakes on the 39-square mile Quabbin Reservoir. The place is an off-limits islands, but some residents fear the place would be a breeding ground for snakes which could bite hunters, fishermen and hikers if it escapes the island.

On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife – which is behind the project – would conduct a public meeting to hear the residents’ feedback on the planned colony. The agency proposed the colony because only 200 of the snake species, which are endangered and are endemic to the state, remain. These species are scattered in five pocket areas from greater Boston to the Berkshires, reports The New York Daily News.

Gathering the 200 in one distant place, on Mount Zion Island in a 1,400-acre reservoir, would prevent loss of habitat and death of the snakes caused by humans, says Tom French from the Division. A few would be placed at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, and once the baby snakes mature enough to survive in the wild, it would be transferred to Quabbin.

Massachusetts Gov Charlie Baker has endorsed the project. But French acknowledges that “People are afraid that we’re going to put snakes in a place of public use and that they’re going to breed like rabbits and spread over the countryside and kill everybody.”

French admits that rattlesnakes could swim and two narrow causeways connect the island to the mainland. That link is behind the scenario feared by residents, which is what viewers see on horror films.