A dead snake found in a drain at an Auckland construction site today sparked a biosecurity scare.
The Ministry of Primary Industries told 1 NEWS the 115cm snake had been "tentatively identified as a juvenile non-venomous carpet python", subject to confirmation from its herpetologist.
Michael Taylor, team manager of aquatic and environmental health at Biosecurity New Zealand, told 1 NEWS his team responded quickly to the find.
"One of our incursion investigators has picked up the dead snake. We haven’t yet determined the species of the snake," he says.
Biosecurity NZ removed the snake, which is believed to be a carpet python, and say there is no threat to the public.
"There is no evidence of any further snakes and there is no threat to the public. We will investigate how it arrived in New Zealand."
Taylor says Biosecurity New Zealand "intercept one or two snakes a year" which are "normally not venomous".
He added that most snakes arrive here dead due to treatment of imported cargo.
The Ministry of Primary Industries supplied 1 NEWS with an image of the dead snake which is now in their possession.
According to Newshub, the snake was found by a construction worker in a drain at a worksite in Papakura.
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