Snake In NJ Lake Identified as Green Anaconda

Newsmax.com ^ | 7/21/14 | Nick Sanchez

[njslim]

An anaconda snake is loose in New Jersey's Lake Hopatcong, and a local reptile expert said Friday he's breaking his silence after animal control told him to keep quiet about the dangerous reptile. "I've known it was an anaconda since last week, but I was told by animal control and state police not to say anything," Gerald Andrejcak, who works for Common Sense for Animals, told The New Jersey Herald. "Officials were afraid that if it came out that the snake was an anaconda it would cause mass hysteria. It needed to come out, it is a public safety issue."

[thackney]

snake ping

[freebilly]

My high school senior day party was at Lake Hopatcong. Too bad an anaconda didn’t get some of my classmates....

[zerosix]

It’s a juvenile deserving amnesty, reuniting with its family, housing, non-judgmental acceptance, job security, healthcare, etc.

[txhurl]

I finally got my game warden to admit we had panthers everywhere in suburban Austin which everybody knew. Then a guy caught a freshwater shark in Lake Medina a couple years ago.

[njslim]

years ago had some nutjob keep a Gabon Viper (among other
venomous snakes) - one day bite him on arm while trying to
feef.

Was luck the ambulance got him to Jacoby Hospital in Bronx
where Bronx zoo has supply of anti venom

Last year some clown in nearby town gor bit by cobra - almost
died .......

[Maceman]

People who keep snakes as pets need some serious mental evaluation.

I've had pet snakes since I was a boy (I'm in my 60s now). Currently I'm temporarily taking care of my daughter's ball python. Ball pythons are great pets -- requiring very little care, inexpensive to feed, docile, beautiful, slow moving and they don't get too large (most males don't get past 4 ft., and the maximum for a female is around 6 ft.

I agree the non-professional herpetologists who keep large constrictors, such as anacondas and burmese pythons, and poisonous snakes are nutty, as those animals are dangerous.

But small harmless snakes make fine pets for those that know how to take care of them.

I have been amazed my whole life at the extent to which most people are irrationally afraid of non-dangerous snakes. It would be amusing, if it weren't so sad.

BTW, here is a picture of my daughter with her pet ball python, taken 10 years ago. His name is Pyewacket

[gr8eman]

Prolly already is!

[EternalVigilance]

Obama probably bused it in.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

I don’t what people are thinking half the time anymore.

An anaconda is an apex predator. It can grow almost 30 feet long with a width as large as an adult human’s waist.

They consume enormous prey including animals as large as caimans (six feet long) and large mammals such as deer.

[denydenydeny]

A way will be found to blame this on Governor Christie

[ZULU]

What kind of conservative are you?

This whole thing is PETA driven. They don’t believe in exotic pets or any pets for that matter.
If you don’t like snakes don’t get one. If you don’t like guns don’t have one.
But don’t control other people’s choices.

[CarmichaelPatriot]

So you’re okay with African Pythons displacing all other species in the Everglades and encroaching on developed areas?

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

A little simplistic.

We all believe in the right to bear arms around here.

But do you have a right to keep a Tiger Tank in your garage or a nuclear warhead in your basement?

An anaconda is an apex predator which could easily escape an enclosure and threaten just about anything it comes into contact with.

No one should keep such animals as pets.

[Zuse]

“It’s a juvenile deserving amnesty, reuniting with its family, “

Oh no! Chain migration. Here they come!

[EricT.]

My biggest problem with snakes is that they usually surprise me when I finally see them. Sneaky little devils. They jump out from under the fence when I’m weed-whacking. They’re usually dead before they hit the ground, but it still causes an nasty adrenaline rush.

[ransomnote]

Uh...these people aren’t controlling their apex predators. I care if people let these things into the public sphere.

[Salamander]

Funny how this happens just as the WV “injurious wildlife list”is being finalized for vote.
[further expanding the madness of the “Lacey Act”]

I think it was released intentionally to push the agenda.

The “public comments” was *just* reopened and now this “revelation”?

The timing is very suspicious.

[EricT.]

But do you have a right to keep a Tiger Tank in your garage or a nuclear warhead in your basement?

If you can afford any of these items, sure. I'd have a Tiger Tank if I could afford it. Considering that there are less than 10 in the world in decent shape and only 1 or 2 are actually in running condition, that would be a hefty price tag.

[jayrunner]

I read that warm water snakes, like pythons etc, can survive winters tucked away in caves at The Lake of the Ozarks. Enough to make me shiver.

A black Mamba was found in 101 near Palo Alto in the 80’s or 90’s. It apparently escaped from the idiot who kept it.

BTW I had a cure for dangerous snakes and the nut cases who import them. It involves a escape proof container large enough to hold a man. Let them that keep these snakes feed them. Hee Hee!!!

[Salamander]

” His name is Pyewacket “

Bell, Book And...Constrictor?

;D