Another snake found

By Sarafina Sanerivi 30 May 2016, 12:00AM

Two weeks ago, a story was published in the Weekend Observer about a snake that was spotted by a worker at Bluebird Lumber & Hardware in Salelologa, Savaii. 

This issue raised a lot of concerns and questions from members of the public. And it now appears that there are more snakes out there. 

On Thursday, another local posted a photo of a snake curled up in a guava tree on Facebook. 

The photo and post was by Sita Leota. 

The post reads as follows:

“A week and a half ago, there was a story in the paper about a snake in Savaii.

My older brother came across this one this afternoon (Thursday) at the place we have at Tiavī, on the way to Siumu, camouflaged in a guava tree.”

According to Sita, she and her brother were told by the boys who live there that that was the third and the biggest snake they’ve seen to date. 

The post continues: “It (the snake) "jumped" (I suppose, is the word) as if to attack them when they saw it. I'm sorry all snake lovers. Nobody was going to stand around and say, "This doesn't look dangerous at all, let me check the textbook of non-poisonous snakes" or "Here kitty kitty, let me love you". NO. They put an end to it.“It would be highly advisable for whichever authority is in charge to please come and have a look.”

Sita’s brother was contacted for a comment, and Misa Henry Leota confirmed that the snake was found by the boys who work at their land on Thursday.

“It was raining in the afternoon when they found the snake,” said Misa. 

He also agreed that the snake that was found on Thursday wasn’t the first snake the boys had found. 

“They killed it and threw it into a valley.”

Misa said they are not sure what kind of snake it was and how long it was. “The boys did what they had to do to avoid anyone from getting hurt.” 

When the story on the snake from Savaii was published in the paper, an environmental expert argued against the killing of the two-meter snake. 

S.P.R.E.P’s Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Officer, Paul Anderson, said that invasive snakes are bad for Samoa. 

According to Mr. Anderson, Samoa is home to a native non-venomous snake called the Pacific boa. 

“They are a bit rare because uninformed people often kill them,” said Mr. Anderson. 

Moreover, according to Mr. Anderson, members of the public should bring in the snakes so they can ID and release the snake if it is native, or destroy it if it happens to be an alien (non-native) species. 

By Sarafina Sanerivi 30 May 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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