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12
Mar
Seventy snakes rescued by Knaresborough volunteers after 'months' of neglect
Seventy snakes have been rescued by a Knaresborough organisation after they were abandoned in a coal bunker by their owner.
Volunteers from Knaresborough Exotic Rescue Centre were called to the property by the RSPCA after it was alerted to the case by the father of the woman who lived there.
The royal pythons belonged to the woman’s partner, but when their relationship ended, he moved out, leaving them behind.
Dan Holmes, who runs the animal sanctuary, said the snakes looked as though they had been neglected for "a couple of months".
Dan Holmes
He said:
They were kept in racking in a coal bunker, but in outhouses like that it’s hard to regulate the temperature, so it ends up overheating and effectively ‘cooking’ the snakes.
It’s the worst case of neglect I’ve seen. There were three dead snakes – two babies and an adult – and one of them was in with a live snake. There were even a couple of bags of dead snakes in the freezer.
It was just horrible. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and the smell was just awful.
I normally keep my cool when I’m doing collections, but I did get upset. One of my younger volunteers was in tears.
The snakes are thought to have been neglected for about two months.
Dan and his team collected all the snakes from the address in County Durham and took them back to their centre on Knaresborough High Street.
Many were dehydrated, some have mites and one has an abscess on its tail.
Dan is now putting together a case with photos and a statement for referral to the RSPCA.
Knaresborough Exotic Rescue Centre took five of the snakes yesterday to Cheshire Reptile Rescue, which donated some racking to keep some of the rest in, and a friend of Dan's is coming on Friday to take some more.
The snakes were dehydrated, and some had mites.
The team is hoping that anyone interested in keeping a reptile will get in touch with them, rather than going to a pet shop.
Dan said:
We always encourage people to ‘adopt not shop’. Snakes make great pets, especially royal pythons, and they’re often really good for children with ADHD or autism – the snakes really relax them and calm them down.
He is also hoping that the publicity surrounding the case will encourage more people to donate money to the sanctuary to help with its running costs.
In October 2023, the Stray Ferret reported on the sanctuary’s ‘urgent appeal’ for help as pet-owners were feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis and getting rid of their animals.
Dan said:
That’s still a problem, and it’s getting worse. We’ve now become the largest exotic rescue centre in the North. Others have shut down because they can no longer afford to stay open.
Our electric bill was £50 a day before this happened. With all these extra snakes, it will be more like £60-70 a day.
Since January, we’ve had about 150 animals come in, and we’re only in March. I know it’s the Year of the Snake, but this is ridiculous.
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