Posted on: Friday, June 14, 2002

Snake found in Waipahu yard

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

State agriculture officials are trying to determine how an illegal gopher snake wound up in a Waipahu yard this week.

The 2ý-foot snake was found slithering in the front yard of a man's home Tuesday afternoon, said Lisa Nakayama, agriculture land vertebrates specialist. Before the snake could escape, the man crushed it with a skateboard, she said.

The resident called police, who asked agricultural officials to pick up the dead snake. The light- and dark-brown snake was identified as a nonvenomous gopher snake, which is found in North America.

Nakayama said the snake was about a year old and could have grown to 7 feet. Gopher snakes feed on small rodents, young rabbits, lizards and birds and their eggs, and kill their prey by constriction and suffocation.

"It will definitely pose a threat to our birds here," she said. Gopher snakes are typically found in dry areas, such as rocky deserts and open prairies, she said.

Nakayama would not reveal where in Waipahu the snake was found because an investigation is under way to find its owner. Snakes are illegal in Hawai'i, and anyone caught with one faces a fine of up to $200,000 and three years in prison.

Although the Waipahu snake was killed, Nakayama praised the resident for preventing the snake from escaping.

"Most people would have seen it and run into the house and called somebody without preventing it from getting any further," she said.

The last time a gopher snake was found was in September 1995, when a 3-foot-long snake was turned in at the Hawaiian Humane Society.