“Not a native animal” – Unusual snake caught at the school dormitory

Animal use at a school home in Rosental. A snake not native to Carinthia had crept into the system.

The animal was on Tuesday in a basement shaft of the dormitory in St. Jakob im Rosental when students discovered it and immediately alerted the fire brigade. “It was a fairly large snake, which is why we initially assumed that it could be an Aesculapian snake,” says the emergency services, who then informed the experts at the Klagenfurt reptile zoo Happ. Exposed or indication of climate changeThe animal keeper recognized her Arrived immediately that the snake was a four-lined snake originally native to south-eastern Europe. “How this animal came to us is unclear. Either someone put it out or it is an indication of climate change and the resulting spread of reptiles,” explains zoo director Helga Happ. Four-lined snakes are not poisonous, by the way. “On the contrary, they mainly eat mice, which is why they are actually very useful,” said the reptile experts, who captured the snake and took it to Klagenfurt, where the animal is now well housed.
source site-12