Poisonous Snake found in Maine

[formercia]

Dead Gaboon Viper Discovered Behind Saco Cinemagic

POSTED: 4:58 pm EST March 8, 2010
UPDATED: 6:23 pm EST March 8, 2010


http://www.wmtw.com/news/22778148/detail.html

A person walking on a trail found a dead snake Monday morning that turned out to be a poisonous snake that is harmful even after its death.



Saco dispatchers received a report that the snake was found behind the Saco Cinemagic on Route 1 at 10:24 a.m. The snake was a 5-foot-long Gaboon viper, said Sgt. Tim Spahr of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

He said it appeared that the snake froze to death. Members of the department are investigating who may have released the viper.

Had anyone been bitten by the snake, it could have been fatal, Spahr said. If the viper had been released in the summer, it would have survived.

The snake was still deadly after its death. Venom came out of its fangs while wardens handled it while wearing gloves Monday.

"This venom is still potent for a while," Spahr said.

-snip-

[Tailormyst]

1. omg- that is far away from home.

[daninthemoon]

2. at least it wasn't another snake for florida.

[HughMoran]

3. Some animal owners should be shot

WTF?

[Gormy Cuss]

4. There are no native poisonous snakes in ME, which makes this even scarier.

Poor snake, but I'm glad it wasn't found the hard way -- by someone being bitten by it in the summer. They're not very aggressive as a rule but holy cow was it out of its range!

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. There's a Rattlesnake Mt. in Casco.... n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Yes, and Maine isn't in rattlesnake range.

"No poisonous snakes" was one of those state facts that was drummed into us on Maine Day. There's actually several Rattlesnake Mtns. and other geographic features named Rattlesnake in ME, most if not all in western Maine.

[Davis_X_Machina]

15. They caught one sunning himself on Mt Agamenticus....

....down in York Co. a while back.

[Gormy Cuss]

24. There are many in eastern MA.

The warmer trends over the last few decades are probably helping them move north.
One of the strangest places that I've ever encountered them was in the Blue Hill reservation south of Boston. Both Chickatawbut and Great Blue hills have sizeable colonies and I saw one that was over four feet long.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Yeah, wrong continent is kinda out of his range.

I thought, however, that timber rattlers were indiginous to all the lower 48. Last I checked, that still includes Maine.

[DFab420]

5. Wow

Haha my cousin lives in Saco, thats the most exciting thing that has happened there since indoor plumbing (which is still catching on up there) haaha

Oh I love Maine...

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. Well, that's one annoying GEICO ad that will have to be pulled off the radio now, at least.

No poisonous snakes in Maine, my ass!

[vadawg]

10. lol i was thinking where the f i had heard that, yeah its an annoying ad..

[laughingliberal]

7. I thought this was going to be a post about Snowe and Collins. nt

[pipi_k]

8. Maybe it jumped out of the plane...

was there a tiny parachute nearby?

[CatWoman]

12. you know, that's how the brown snake tree invaded Guam

not flying in on parachutes, but by hitching rides on military airplanes: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Resources/Education/BTS/

[pipi_k]

17. Wow...nasty little buggers, aren't they?

:scared:

[CatWoman]

18. yes

and they've been known to short out electricity lines, and bite little babies:

Because the snakes are nocturnal, most people, including thousands of tourists who visit the island, have never seen them.

But some have found these mildly venomous snakes in their homes, sometimes trying to eat sleeping children.

The snakes have been found in homes, some trying to eat young children

"I looked at his crib and he had the snake's tail wrapped around his neck, and the snake's head wrapped around his leg, and he was busy, 10 months old, holding on the crib, trying to pull the snake off him," said Ernie Matson, the boy's father.

http://arachnophiliac.info/burrow/news/brown_tree_snakes.htm

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. One reason I have to be grateful

to have never had been sent to Guam by Uncle Sam... if we were, our parrots would have had a cow... I mean they like free ranging on the ground.

[dave29]

13. EARTHQUAKES, SNAKES!@!!1

edit to add:

[Shell Beau]

16. Where do those snakes normally call home?

We have several poisonous snakes here in MS, but I know the Viper isn't one of them. Are they native to Africa??

[Sebastian Doyle]

19. On a motherfucking plane?

:shrug:

[Shell Beau]

20. Oh yeah!!! Duh!

I forgot that Samuel L. already told me that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Asia if memory serves

One of those increasingly useless pieces of info one learns in rescue survival school

[CatWoman]

25. Chairman Kaga, that you?

:)

[Shell Beau]

26. I just read that they were central Africa, but I knew they

weren't native to North America.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Thanks one learns something every day

True story, we did have a patient that was "playing" with his king Cobra... nasty little critter... and the fire extinguisher worked far better than the cop's guns.

[Shell Beau]

28. I can't imagine why anyone would play with a deadly snake,

I am not afraid of non venomous snakes, but keep the poisonous ones far far away.

[theophilus]

21. Well, don't EAT it then. n/t