Giant python shock!
The dead snake which was found by fishery research staff members in the Slaney.
FISHERY research staff on the Slaney had the shock of their lives on Monday when they uncovered a huge snake in the river.
The creature they first assumed was an over-sized eel turned out to be a giant python.
The unfortunate and unlikely import was found in a seine net strung across the river by members of the Central Fisheries Board.
They were in boats on the river upstream from Edermine bridge when they came across the speciment that measured ten feet in length.
It is believed that the snake must have escaped from a vivarium or have been released by a pet owner who could no longer cope with it.
Much to the relief of the staff working in the fish monitoring team, it turned out to be dead.
'The people involved got a shock,' reported CFB director of research Dr. Cathal Gallagher. ' I have never come across anything like this before.'
While one dead python at Edermine poses no threat to man or to Slaney fish stocks, Dr. Gallagher pointed out that exotic species can prove costly to the Irish environment.
He cited such examples as zebra mussels and the lagarosiphon weed which has infested lakes in Ireland at the expense of native species.
- David MEDCALF
