Snake alert in French town as two boa constrictors on the loose
Residents of a small town in France have been told to be on their guard after two five-foot boa constrictor snakes were found within a month of each other.
The mayor of Bourg-de-Péage in the southern Drome region lodged a complaint with police for public nuisance after a local's dog discovered the second snake on Monday at the side of a road, reports thelocal.fr.
The first snake was found on 18 May in a local's garden, and was removed by firefighters.
Police have been left baffled about how the snakes, a male and a female, came to be in the town, as there are no zoos nearby, and no residents are registered owners.
According to the Daily Telepgraph, Mayor Nathalie Niéson said: "One thing is clear: this not natural.
"Did someone release them into the wild to get rid of them? Is it a case of someone with evil intentions?"
The boa constrictor is a species of large, heavy-bodied snake. It is a member of the family Boidae found in North, Central, and South America, as well as some islands in the Caribbean.
It can reach anything up to 13ft and weigh up to 60lb.
Prey includes a wide variety of small to medium sized mammals and birds. The bulk of their diet consists of rodents, but larger lizards and mammals as big as ocelots are also reported to have been consumed. Young boa constrictors will eat small mice, birds, bats, lizards and amphibians. The size of the prey will increase as they get older and larger.
Boa constrictors are ambush predators and as such will often lie in wait for an appropriate prey to come along at which point they will attack.
While rare, reports have emerged of some pet owners being strangled by their boa constrictors in the US.
Related articles
Giant python swallows pet Chihuahua while owners sleeps
Snake spotted slithering across the beach in Cornwall
