by BRYAN WALKER

YES, there are snakes in the grass . . . , to borrow a line from the late Carew's calypso hit.

Yesterday's capture of a near seven-foot red-tail boa constrictor in Morgan Lewis, St Andrew, has confirmed the presence of large snakes on the loose. The snake is now at the Wildlife Reserve in St Peter as Government officials decide on its fate.

Geoffrey Browne, a member of the Caribbean Herpetological Society who was called yesterday to aid in securing the boa, told the MIDWEEK NATION its discovery was a vindication of their efforts of raising awareness about these snakes.

"There was always a concern [as] people thought we were blowing smoke, but snakes are out there," he said.

He added though that the boa, which could grow up to 15 feet long, was found in an area "where we have not had calls before". He added that the Morgan Lewis area was an ideal habitat for the reptile with dense and watery surroundings.

Since April, when herpetologist Damon Corrie confirmed that snake tracks found in a St Peter woman's patio were suspected to be those of a eight to ten-foot python, Barbadians have been in a frenzy about these big snakes.

Corrie, who has over 20 years' experience in dealing with reptiles, has been searching for an 18-foot Burmese python, last spotted in Joe's River, St Joseph, last October, for nearly two years.

He suspected there were at least ten other snakes on the loose, including other pythons and boa constrictors, all smuggled into the island as babes back in the early 1990s and later released by, or escaped from, their owners.

There have been reports of sightings in St Peter, St James, Christ Church and St Joseph over the past few months.

But were there more snakes in that Morgan Lewis area?

Browne said it was unlikely there would be a cluster of snakes there as the reptiles did not usually live together and only came together during mating season, which was once a year.

Browne, like Corrie previously, assured Barbadians that the snakes were not poisonous, and normally did not attack humans – perhaps only in self-defence.

And despite the workers trapping the boa yesterday, he urged Barbadians not to try to catch them, but to observe them from a safe distance and call the authorities as they could be bitten.

"You can easily get bitten by one of them. Even today while the boa was in the cage, it kept striking. Its mouth opens 180 degrees – bigger than the palm of your hand."

Last April, Prime Minister Owen Arthur pledged to Corrie the army's assistance in tracking down the snakes, especially in using its night-tracking equipment, as the snakes were said to be moving around between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Between then and now, Barbados Defence Force soldiers have been conducting various training exercises in preparation for the searches.

However, when contacted over the weekend, an army official said the team had not conducted one search as they were "still on standby" awaiting word from the Ministry of the Environment.

Early last month, Minister of the Environment Elizabeth Thompson announced that a task force had been set up to handle reports of snake sightings and rapidly respond to capture them.

A 24-hour hotline, 467-5757, was also established.

Thompson also gave the assurance that "any snakes caught would be shipped off the island".

Since that announcement, no official word has come from the ministry or the task force on its progress.

However, sources close to the task force said the "frequency of reports were down" in recent times.

When contacted yesterday, permanent secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, Lionel Nurse, gave the assurance that an update would be coming shortly through the Government Information Service.