Poisonous snake stops Phuket motorist in his tracks

PHUKET: Snake catchers were called out yesterday to bag a venomous two-meter-long snake that had become stuck inside the engine of a car in Phuket Town.

“We were called to the scene about 1:30pm, where we found a boiga dendrophila, commonly called the mangrove snake or gold-ringed cat snake, inside the engine of a Toyota on Luang Phor Road,” said snake catcher Watchara Srikacha from the Kusoldharm Foundation.

The snake catcher said he had never encountered a mangrove snake before.

“I have been catching animals for more than five years, but this is the first time I have seen a gold-ringed cat snake. It is quite venomous and doesn’t seem to have wandered out of a forest, but rather escaped from the care of a snake breeder.”

Half of the snake’s body was on the ground, while the other half was inside the engine, Mr Watchara explained.

The team of snake catchers spent more than 20 minutes carefully luring the snake out from the hood of the car.

“We finally managed to get the snake out of the engine and under the car, then we used two sticks to capture it,” Mr Watchara added.

The car owner, Somphop Juengcharoen, was shocked when he came upon the snake.

“I had just finished having lunch with my family and was about to drive home when I saw the yellow-black tail of a snake sticking out of the hood,” said Mr Somphop.

“It’s lucky that I didn’t drive home immediately, or the snake could have made its way into our house.”

The snake was later released into a forest near Kathu waterfall.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong