BUSSELTON DUNSBOROUGH MAIL (Australia) 07 January 09 Snake ‘cool’ in the lock-up (Rosanna Dalibor)

Dunsborough Police caught a rather unusual intruder in the station last week – a dugite.

The metre-long snake was found in the cell block by First Class Constable Ben Lucas as he was arriving at work. He thought it was a fake snake, planted as a prank by a new police officer. However, when that officer was asked about it, he had no idea what constable Lucas was talking and smiling about.

When he realised it was a real snake, Constable Lucas tried to “escort” the dugite out with his baton, only to see it disappear under a heating system.

Enjoying its new warm and cosy spot, the dugite is said to have been unhappy to be removed by experienced snake handler Roger Jackson from the Carbunup Reptile Park, however, he is now enjoying a much greener spot in the bush.

Because the snake was so quiet about the whole incident, police won’t be pressing any charges.

Roger said he usually gets a call everyday from someone needing to have a snake removed from their property, mainly tiger snakes and dugites, although he wasn’t always able to attend to all requests.

If people found a snake on their property, he advised them not to try and catch or kill it, since 90 per cent of the time they would end up getting bitten.

If they found a snake inside their house they should shut the door and put a towel underneath before calling a snake remover, and if it was found in an enclosed backyard they should stay back and keep an eye on it until the snake remover arrived. If found on a rural property it would be best left alone, as they aren’t interested in humans and are more scared of us than we of them.

Snakes will be out and about until May-June, but tiger snakes are more tolerant to weather changes and can be found year round.
Snake ‘cool’ in the lock-up

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