Live Gopher Snake Found at Home Depot on O’ahu

Workers of an O‘ahu house improvement shop bought a slithery shock from a pallet hitchhiker previously this week.

According to a news release from the point out Division of Agriculture, a reside snake was captured late Wednesday night time, July 6, at the Kapolei House Depot. Honolulu law enforcement officers, responding to a 911 call from keep staff members at about 11 p.m., employed a bucket to seize the snake, which was spotted on a pallet in a delivery container of mixed products.

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 store to survey the space and informed the keep to get hold of the DOA if any other hitchhiking animals were noticed.

The snake, identified by reptile experts as a non-venomous juvenile gopher snake, steps about 21 inches very long. Gopher snakes are located in North The usa and can mature up to about 7 feet. Their diet is composed of smaller rodents, young rabbits, lizards, birds and their eggs. The snakes destroy their prey by constriction and suffocation.

Snakes are unlawful to have in Hawai‘i. They have no purely natural predators and pose a critical menace to the state’s ecosystem.

The DOA reminds the public that all those with illegal animals can turn them in less than the state’s Amnesty Software to any DOA workplace, the Honolulu Zoo, the Pana‘ewa Zoo in Hilo or any humane modern society, no thoughts requested and no fines assessed. The utmost penalty underneath point out regulation for possession and/or transporting illegal animals is a Class C felony, punishable by up to a $200,000 good and up to three several years in prison.

Anyone with information and facts about unlawful animals should really get in touch with the statewide toll-absolutely free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378). Sightings or captures of unlawful animals or invasive species must also be claimed to the hotline.