BENTON COURIER (Arkansas) 14 April 05 15-foot boa may be loose in Benton (Jillian McGehee)

A snake believed to be a boa constrictor measuring 15 feet in length was seen in the vicinity of Lillian and Conway streets in Benton on Wednesday.

Benton police officers Lantz Smith and Bobby Shell responded to 219 Lillian, but found nothing after looking for the snake for about 30 minutes, police said.

Benton Animal Control members were seen scouring the area, said Rhoma Callison, who lives at the residence.

Callison said a man who was mowing the lawn directly behind her house saw the snake. Callison, who lives with her sister, said when the man told her what he saw, "it scared two old women to death."

Callison said she did not know the name of the man mowing but that she believes he is from Pine Bluff and works for a contractor. She said the houses behind her home are vacant and the man comes periodically to groom the lawns.

Smith said it is believed the snake has been missing for two to three years since its owners moved. He said the snake was probably out in the open to get some sun.

"The people moved out about two years ago," Callison said.

If in fact there is a 15-foot snake on the loose, "it is not a big cause for alarm," said Chris Johnson, a Little Rock biologist. "They are simply animals people are nervous about."

He said if the snake has been living in the neighborhood for three years and has not caused any problems, "it's probably not going to start causing problems now.

"If we don't where it came from and don't know that it was 15 feet" there is no need to worry, he said. "It's like worrying about a coyote in the neigbhorhood. It won't eat people, and if it's been living in the neighborhood for a long time it must have found a good source of food such as rats, rodents or some other natural food source."

While some may think of a snake moving at a swift pace, Johnson said "a normal person can walk away from a snake faster than the snake can catch up, especially a boa constrictor."

He added that boa contrictors and snakes of similar size such as anacondas are not venomous.
15-foot boa may be loose in Benton

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