A live snake was recently found in a shipping container on Moloka‘i. While being unloaded at a hardware store in Kaunankakai. Maui County Police on Moloka‘i were called to the store and shot the snake, which measured approximately 20-inches long and has been identified as a non-venomous gopher snake, with a pellet gun.

Staff from the Moloka‘i Invasive Species Committee (MoMISC) held the snake at the store until Maui Plant Quarantine Branch inspectors from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture (HDOA) arrived on the island. The container had been shipped from California to Moloka‘i.

HDOA inspectors and MoMISC staff conducted a thorough search of the two pallets where the snake was found and did not find any more snakes. They also searched the warehouse, surrounding area, and three other Moloka‘i hardware stores and did not find evidence of snakes.

Gopher snakes are found in North America and can grow up to about seven feet. Its diet consists of small rodents, young rabbits, lizards, birds and their eggs. Prey is killed by constriction and suffocation. In Hawai`i, snakes are illegal to possess, have no natural predators, and pose a serious threat to Hawai`i’s unique ecosystem as they compete with native animal populations for food and habitat.

Anyone with information about illegal animals should call the statewide toll-free PEST HOTLINE at 808-643-PEST (7378).

Photo credit: Department of Agriculture