Venomous sea snake found on Kiwi beach
It has been reported that a live Venomous sea snake has been found washed ashore on a beach on Dargaville’s west coast. You can view the story here, via Stuff.co.nz
So while this is an amazing find, there are a couple of things people should realize if they find a snake in this country of ours.
I’m no expert and have never claimed to have been an expert on snakes, but if you do find one, and it looks slightly shriveled up, it probably isn’t such a good idea to poke one with a stick, as the guy who found it was quoted as saying.
“It wasn’t moving but it was alive and when I touched it with a stick it moved and it was very unusual looking,”
After looking on the internet, it was concluded from the guy that found it, that it was an extremely poisonous snake. The internet is never wrong, so it was good that everyone knew it was poisonous.
Biosecurity staff from Auckland had to be sent to the beach to check out the snake, and as such police had to stand guard over the snake all day to make sure the public didn’t come into contact with it. Forget crimes and violence, guarding the snake would of made some cops day.
One constable was quoted as saying:
“when the snake was touched earlier in the day, it had struck out a slightly risen part of the sand, leaving two long, deep marks shaped like an X”
It makes you wonder how many people have actually touched this snake, so for future reference New Zealand, if you find a snake DON”T TOUCH IT
If you have to wait for biosecurity people to come from Auckland to look at the snake you have found, i doubt there would be anti venom handy in case you did get bitten. Remember you are not Steve Irwin.
It’s always fun to find strange beach creatures while strolling along the shore line.
Its fun finding anything strange anywhere.