A slightly venomous snake was discovered at a Manchester, New Hampshire, Market Basket grocery store, after it hitched a ride on a banana shipment. Here’s where the animal ended up.
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We're learning new details about how a venomous snake might have wound up in a banana shipment at a New Hampshire Market Basket store last week.
The snake slithered its way into a shipment of bananas from South America several days ago and was discovered on Saturday at a Market Basket in Manchester. It's now safely at Rainforest Reptile Shows outside of Boston.
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"We get cases like this more frequently than some people would think. We don’t typically get snakes, but we’ve gotten animals like amphibians and frogs," said Mack Ralbovsky, Rainforest Reptiles vice president.
The ornate cat-eyed Snake is technically venomous, which was shocking for the employee who discovered it before the bananas were put out for customers. But Rainforest Reptiles staff said even if the worker had been bitten, they probably would have survived.
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“Most likely what’s going to happen is you’re going to have localized swelling as well as pain in that generalized area," Ralbovsky said.
But from picking to packing, how is it that no one noticed the foot-and-a-half long snake?
“Most likely when they were harvesting those bananas it was probably still stuck in that area," Ralbovsky speculated.
"The young snake, which has yet to be named, will now be a permanent U.S. resident with Rainforest Reptiles, joining about 1,000 other animals the organization cares for -- some from abuse cases, others unwanted pets.
“We’ll use it for educational purposes to teach the general public about why these animals are so critically important for their native range and why snakes are such an important aspect of the natural world," Ralbovsky said.
If the snake had somehow managed to escape the store, Rainforest Reptiles staff said it most likely would have died outside in the frigid New England air.
