Police take sssslithery ssssuspect into custody
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/06/2021 (1292 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It’s ssssafe to go outsssside again in Fort Rouge.
A man… er, snake hunt that began Saturday ended without incident Monday afternoon when Winnipeg police apprehended an escaped white-and-grey serpent in the 600 block of Pembina Highway.
Winnipeg Police Service posted a photo of the arresting officer and unarmed — uncuffed, obviously — suspect on Twitter. The snake was turned over to Animal Services.
wfpremovefromapp:
Officers have safely located the snake in the 600 block of Pembina Hwy. It has been turned over to Animal Services. @wpgpoundpups pic.twitter.com/zEWaHRSqDR
— Winnipeg Police (@wpgpolice) June 14, 2021
:wfpremovefromapp
Police didn’t provide any other details, including whether the snake’s owner had come forward.
Many residents in Fort Rouge spent an uneasy weekend after the reptile was spotted slithering through a yard in the 600 block of Ebby Avenue Saturday afternoon.
Animal Services staff were summoned but did not locate the snake. Initial reports suggested it was about two metres in length, but it appeared about half that size in the police photo Monday.
The city department received a flurry of phone calls, ranging from people who were afraid to leave their homes to some concerned about the snake’s well-being.
Rob Vendramelli of the Manitoba Herpetocultural Society said it looked like a corn snake based on photos. Corn snakes are non-venomous and popular pets, he said, adding they are native to the southeastern United States, typically grow between a metre and two metres long, and can live up to 20 years.
While technically an exotic pet, corn snakes are legal to own in Winnipeg if they’re not longer than six feet (1.8 metres).
Vendramelli said the snake had likely found a way out of a home terrarium. Snakes are natural escape artists, and will innately poke at their enclosures to search for an exit.
“It’s really unfortunate that this snake got out," he said.
Vendramelli said the escape artist couldn’t inflict serious injury on most neighbours’ pets and it was likely in more danger of being attacked by a cat or dog.
It’s not the first time a snake has been loose in Winnipeg. Last year, a snake that was likely an African ball python was spotted in the University of Manitoba area but never found.
Vendramelli said responsible pet owners can keep a snake such as this one safely and happily.
“As long as someone is able to properly provide a good life for these animals, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be kept,” he said.
Animal Services general manager Leland Gordon disagrees.
He said the situation is a learning experience for anyone interested in owning exotic pets; a residential area isn’t a comfortable place for a snake, and it can be unsafe too.
Compare a Winnipeg neighbourhood with the Narcisse snake dens as an example, Gordon said.
“Just imagine taking one of those garter snakes, and putting it in that terrarium and saying, now you have to live in Winnipeg, in this terrarium. And so I think that the quality of life issue is a big part of this," he said.
"We can learn a lot about snakes, from TV shows, National Geographic, all those shows and see how they live in the wild, and we are we can learn about them from the internet. But ultimately, instances like this would be minimized if more people would just stick with the dogs and cats.”
Animal Services has an exotic animal control room, which is filled with heated and humidified terrariums. Gordon said staff pick up between five and 10 reptiles a year.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Banned snakes include:
(b) all front-fanged venomous snakes, even if devenomized, including, but not limited to:
i. all Viperidae (e.g. viper, pit viper),
ii. all Elapidae (e.g. cobra, mamba, krait, coral snake),
iii. all Atractaspididae (e.g. African burrowing asp),
iv. all Hydrophiidae (e.g. sea snake),
v. all Laticaudidae (e.g. sea krait).
(c) all venomous, mid- or rear-fanged, Duvernoy-glanded members of the family Colubridae, even if devenomized.
(d) any member or hybrid offspring of the family Boidae, including, but not limited to, the common or green anaconda and yellow anaconda, except members of the family Boidae reaching an adult length of no greater than two (2) metres.
(e) any member of the family Pythonidae, including, but not limited to, the African rock python, the Indian or Burmese python, the Amethystine or scrub python, except members of the family Pythonidae reaching an adult length of no greater than two (2) metres.
(k) all other snakes of a species or subspecies that can reach an adult length greater than three meters, whether the particular snake exceeds that length or not.
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