Large boa gives a family in Tekax a big scare
Animal control was summoned to the yard of a family in Tekax’s San Francisco neighborhood.
In the backyard of the home, the municipal workers found a large boa, measuring over a meter in length.
The reptile was extracted from the family’s home by the animal control agents who seemed rather unfazed by the sight of the giant snake.
The homeowners said that they were grateful for the authority’s prompt response, as the sight of the large snake was disconcerting, to say the least.
Animal control said they would take the boa back to headquarters before deciding where to release it, as called for by pre-established protocols.
Earlier: Yucatán’s amazing animals, from the solitary jaguar to the misunderstood opossum
The Yucatecan boa is a species of large, non-venomous, heavy-bodied snake that is frequently kept and bred in captivity.
Boas strike when they perceive a threat. Their bite can be painful, especially from large snakes, but is rarely dangerous to humans. Specimens found in Yucatán and Central America are considerably smaller than their South American cousins, hissing loudly and striking repeatedly when disturbed.
During antiquity, the Yucatecan Boa was known in the Mayan language as chij-chan and was considered a sacred animal.
However, in more modern times large snakes, especially boas, are often killed on sight by machete-wielding fieldworkers, leading to a severe decrease in their numbers.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht is a Mexican expedition/Canadian photographer and adventure leader. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds multimedia, philosophy, and translation degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada and Norway.
