snake

No. What was it?
The only snakes indigenous to our islands are harmless and small. The tree boa is endangered.

not sure but it looked to be over 6 feet, interesting pattern. i saw the photo yesterday at work. forgot about it until it was mentioned again today at work

If it was over 6ft., then it was imported as someone's pet and escaped. Dept. Of Agricultural and, I think, Fish and Wildlife has to approve permits for any incoming exotic animals, snakes, birds, etc.

See if you can find the link to post.

i saw it on someones phone, but the people who talked about it say they saw it on facebook.

ViVid Streaming on Facebook. I believe the snake is a python

omg. and ick

A friend of mine back in the day had several boa constrictors and pythons. We used to take the biggest one to the park at the end of the street for a swim in the fountain pond. It always caused a stir! They're really not hard to handle.

I saw the picture on Facebook. It was a Red-tailed Boa. A very popular species in the pet trade.

thanks st x, i thought for a snake it was pretty. looked dead, which made no sense to me why it would be killed

Take it from someone that had a home in South Florida, you should want every exotic snake destroyed on these islands. Just think of the damage they can do.

Those Pythons and Boas are a nightmare for S Florida's very fragile ecosystem; not to mention waking up to find a 9ft snake on your patio. There was a story all in the Florida press around 2010 about a utility service man being bit by a Black Mamba in Ft Lauderdale that had escaped from an illegal collection.

So please leave what's left of our wonderful ecosystem intact. Please watch your importation of exotic animals and invasive plant!

Agreed. We already have invasive species here to worry about.
No more.

Take it from someone that had a home in South Florida, you should want every exotic snake destroyed on these islands.

You relocate, you do not kill.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an animal killer at all...sometimes I even get upset eating a hamburger!

But there is NO place safe to relocate these exotic snakes in the Virgin Islands. No public or privately licensed instructions to house them or (at least in great numbers)...AND we still would run the chance of their escape into our island!

Save our very fragile ecosystem

But there is NO place safe to relocate these exotic snakes in the Virgin Islands.

Relocate to South America.

Where is the closest zoo? Relocating a somewhat domesticated "pet" snake to the wild may not work out so well either.

i agree about relocation to a zoo or habitat similar to them. no need to kill an animal just because

The little zoo in the rainforest would have made a nice home for this poor, displaced snake. They are really easy to care for and there was no reason to kill this animal to capture it. The guy obviously killed it because he was too afraid or didn;t know how to pick it up.

I didn't realize they killed it! They could have called Fish and Wildlife to come to capture it. Poor snake, indeed.

I understand the reluctance to kill any animals, but exotic snakes are a grave danger to our fragile islands. AND It is against our Virgin Island laws to posess them at all.

Ask yourself, do you want snakes to occupy our lands like Lion Fish occupy our seas? The risk is just to great for any of them to live.

We humans have destroyed our native ecosystem enough! Our poor beautiful bird population is another good example. The mongoose introduction was the final straw for many native animals. One particular example was our beautiful native Parrot...lost for ever.

MGW, thank you for your posts! Can the VI government afford to relocate illegal animals? I don't think so. Irresponsible people are putting animals at risk with their stupidity. Too bad they couldn't charge the owner.

I totally agree with you ms411.
To bad we humans never learn for our past mistakes.

Sounds like a snake doesn't have the same right to exist as a turtle does. To people that don't like snakes.

CruzanIron I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give that impression at all. What I meant is that all snakes are perfect in their native environments, BUT an exotic snakes can be a grave danger out of it's own environment.

I think it is just too big a risk to take for any live exotic snake to be on our islands. Please google Guam or Everglades to see what exotic snakes can to.

Please google Guam or Everglades to see what exotic snakes can to.

Google says that after the accidental introduction of brown snakes to Guam, their population exploded to two million. They ate pretty much all the birds on the island, and out of Guam's 12 native forest bird species, 10 have become extinct.

I didn't think the effects can be that dramatic. Thanks for pointing that out, MGW.