This article is from page 3 of the 2012-03-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
ST PATRICK has his work cut out for him if he ever decides to return to County Clare, with reports of grass snakes in the Ennis sewer, corn snakes in a Kilmihil graveyard and a 14-foot anaconda living in one Clare council estate.
According to the Clare Dog Warden, Frankie Coote, the Clare snake population has ballooned in recent years and, with no laws or licensing system in place for snakes, there is little that can be done to control the numbers being introduced into the county.
While the number of poisonous snakes in Clare is believed to be low, Frankie has urged snake owners to be vigilant and ensure that their animals are not allowed to escape. A number of snake escapes have been reported in recent months, most recently a corn snake which was discovered in Kilmihil and has since been returned to its owner.
“The county has become a lot more cosmopolitan when it comes to animals and there are a lot of different types of pets in Clare these days. There were a lot of people, during the boom time, who started buying exotic pets like snakes,” said Frankie.
“The problem is that because they are so new, there is no law for them. It is against the law to go down the road with a Jack Russell if he’s not on a lead, but it is not against the law to walk down the road with a big snake or a tiger.
“We had an incident in Ennis recently where someone was leaving his snakes out to play as people were on their way down to bingo – in the middle of the town centre. People were getting worried and phoning me but it turned out there was nothing against the law going on.
“We had one snake that lived in the drains in Ennis for six months. It was found in the back of Paddy Quinn’s pub in the market. It had been seen by several people going in for a drink but no-one believed them, they thought they had drank too much. We managed to find the owner for that one.
“I am also aware of one particular man who had a 14-foot anaconda in a council estate in Clare.”
The corn snake, which was found at the Kilmihil Graveyard, had lived there for six months and survived by hunting mice and rats at the graveyard.