St Patrick may have banished the snakes from Ireland, but he could not do anything about a wily corn snake who escaped from his owner in Co Tipperary.
Albert, as he has been called, was found in the garden of a house in the south of the county last month by a woman who was out cutting grass. Albert is approximately 60cms long (two foot) and has a body the width of a 20c coin.
She had the presence of mind not to panic. Instead, she put a glass container around Albert and called the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA).
Albert has been in the care of the ISPCA for the last month. To date nobody has come forward to claim him.
The ISPCA is reluctant to give the exact location of where he was found in case a person who is not the original owner comes forward to claim him.
ISPCA inspector Lisa O’Donovan said Albert could not have strayed very far from where he was found so the real owner would be able to identify very quickly where he was lost.
Ms O’Donovan praised the family who found the snake. “In the past, one or two people who have found snakes were petrified because they are not used to them, but they didn’t panic.”
Albert, she stresses, is completely harmless. “If he gave you a jab, you wouldn’t even feel it. Corn snakes are very popular as pets for that reason.”
She reckons that thousands of people in Ireland keep corn snakes as they are relatively low-maintenance reptiles.
Snakes are cold-blooded animals and need a warm, preferably indoor heated environment, to survive in Ireland.
The outside environment is a bigger threat to Albert than Albert is to any human being.
Albert has been in quarantine for the last month as much for his own protection as anything else.
Ms O’Donovan says he is “very stressed and not eating” and needs some TLC which is why he is now going to a snake specialist for rest and recuperation.
Anybody with information about Albert’s owner can contact the ISPCA at 1890515515.
Meanwhile ISPCA chief inspector Conor Dowling said the association would like to see stricter controls over the sale and keeping of exotic species based on their welfare needs and whether they pose a risk to human health or the environment if they escape or are deliberately released.
