A 20-year-old Virginia man was startled to find out that a snake had apparently hitchhiked a ride in his backpack when he flew from Fort Lauderdale to a Hawaii vacation spot.
The small, non-venomous southern black racer slithered out when the man was unpacking at his vacation rental in Maui Monday night, Hawaii News Now reported.
SNAKE ON A PLANE: What would you do if a snake slithered out of your backpack? That’s what happened to one traveler in Maui: https://t.co/FWeXRhX17F pic.twitter.com/xXSKHqpRho
— WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) June 14, 2019
After the resort owner contacted state agricultural workers, the visitor told authorities that he didn’t intentionally bring the snake to the islands from Florida where it is a common species.
The chair of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture told Hawaii News Now that exotic creatures are a threat to the state’s unique environment and that the snake, which measured about 1 foot long, was being taken to Oahu for safe handling.
SNAKE ON A PLANE: A snake stowed away in a Virginia man’s bag and remained undetected until it completed the trip from Florida to Hawaii, officials said. https://t.co/dFW5Q5k9BB
— ABC 7 News – WJLA (@ABC7News) June 13, 2019
———
© 2019 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
