Far from its natural environment in a Central American rainforest, a six-foot-long boa imperator startled a Nottinghamshire dog walker by sunning itself on a path in his local country park.
Sean Dirrane and his dog, Bow, were on an afternoon walk in Colwick Park, just outside Nottingham city centre, when they came across the reptile lying across a gravel path.
At first, Dirrane thought the boa was the fallen branch of a tree and then, as its snake-like shape became more obvious, a fake left by local youths as a prank. But as he got nearer he saw the distinctive markings that would have kept the animal camouflaged in its native habitat and detected movement that confirmed it was very real and alive.
In the wild, boa imperators live in trees when they are young but become more terrestrial as they grow older and heavier. The size of the Nottinghamshire snake would suggest that it was male and relatively young.
Boa imperators’ mottled skins help them blend into the dappled undergrowth in their jungle home, where they predate on small mammals, birds and lizards. As they grow larger, so does their prey, and a fully grown female would have no difficulty consuming an average-sized dog.
However, their generally docile nature and tolerance for being handled has made them one of the most popular of the large snake species to be captive-bred and kept as pets. This one was clearly used to human contact as it did not react to man or dog.
“I was walking Bow in the wooded area where it’s shaded,” said Dirrane. “He’s off lead, going off sniffing in bushes and stuff like that. As I was coming round the corner I thought ‘that branch in the path there looks awfully like a snake’. It didn’t move. It was completely still… with its head up.
“Finally it bobbed its head down and I was in sheer panic. I called Bow back – luckily, he didn't see it - and got him back on the lead. It was panic stations.”
Dirrane called 101 and reported the snake to a perplexed police call handler. It took officers and RSPCA wardens around 20 minutes to get to the park and arrange a safe haven for the snake at a local reptile centre, which sent an experienced handler to collect it. Enquiries are ongoing as to where the snake originated.
Main image: Boa imperator © A10Airknight, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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