A live, non-venomous snake was captured on the side of the road near the Pukalani Golf Club on Maui Monday, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture said.
A resident called the agriculture department and reported that he saw children playing with the snake at about 3 p.m. “Agricultural inspectors from the Maui Plant Quarantine Branch were immediately dispatched and found the snake had been contained in a plastic garbage bin,” the department said in a news release today.
The three-and-half-foot long snake has been tentatively identified as a non-venomous female gopher snake. The species are found in North America and can grow up to seven feet. Its diet consists of small rodents, young rabbits, lizards, birds and their eggs. Gopher snakes kill its prey by constriction and suffocation.
Maui police were also at the scene to assist agricultural inspectors. No other snakes were found in the area.
The agriculture department said the captured snake was taken to the Plant Quarantine Office and humanely euthanized.
Snakes are illegal in Hawaii and have no natural predators in the state. It poses a serious threat to the state’s unique ecosystem especially to endangered native birds.
Anyone who spots a snake is advised to maintain visual contact at a safe distance and immediately report its location to the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378).
