On July 13th, New York State Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) Lieutenant Unger and ECO Kochanowski responded to a Nassau County, Long Island residence after receiving a report that the homeowner wanted to turn in a 14-foot Burmese python.
The Officers arrived to find the python living in the owner’s garage in a five-foot glass terrarium and after finding an appropriate home for the snake, coordinated a pickup with the snake’s owner.
The next day, Kochanowski and Smith seized the python and transported it to Connecticut for transfer to an employee of a licensed facility in Massachusetts.
Burmese pythons are one of the largest species of snakes in thee world. Native to a large area of Southeast Asia and is listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. It is an invasive species in Florida as a result of the pet trade.
They are classified as an animal dangerous to health or welfare and require a special license from New York State to possess. The homeowner was ticketed for illegal possession of dangerous wildlife.
On July 17th, ECO Osborne responded to a timber rattlesnake complaint in the town of Hancock in Delaware County.
A group of utility workers conducting maintenance at a cell tower discovered the 40-inch snake inside the door of one of the tower’s electrical boxes and called for help.
Officer Osborne, who is a member of DEC’s Division of Law Enforcement (DLE) Wildlife Response Team, safely removed the rattlesnake using snake tongs and returned it to the wild.
While rarely seen, timber rattlesnakes are venomous pit vipers native to New York State and considered a threatened species protected by law.
Photos: Burmese python seized from Nassau County home; and ECO Osborne catches and frees timber rattlesnake discovered at worksite in Delaware County (DEC photos).
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