Thursday was no regular day in the office for St. Maarten Nature Foundation Managing Director Tadzio Bervoets (left) and Projects Coordinator Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern (right), who were called in to catch an eight-foot-long boa constrictor that was found in a storage unit of Super Foods supermarket on A.Th. Illidge Road in Madame Estate. Boas are not native to St. Maarten and it is not known where this one came from, but they are a staple in the pet trade and animal-exhibit industry.
These snakes have the potential to be highly invasive, like in Aruba, where they have been causing significant damage to the local environment, especially the local bird population. “It is critical that we prevent these animals from entering into our local ecosystem before they cause harm to our already fragile local fauna. They can also eat small pets,” the Nature Foundation cautioned.
