Associated Press
Associated Press
HONOLULU — The state Department of Agriculture says a family visiting Kona found a 16-inch-long snake in their vacation condo last week.
The black, orange and yellow-colored snake was identified as a garter snake.
The department said Wednesday it’s possible the snake hitchhiked to the Big Island in their luggage. The family had just arrived the evening the snake was found.
The Hilo Plant Quarantine Office held onto the snake and transported it to Honolulu Tuesday. The snake will be kept for educational purposes until it can be shipped out of Hawaii. Snakes aren’t native to Hawaii and do not have any natural predators in the islands.
They could prey on native birds and otherwise harm Hawaii’s environment if they ever became established in the islands.