Snake enters NZ - 2 Press Items

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: THE PRESS (Christchurch, New Zealand) 23 March 00 Snakes could survive in NZ - expert (Seth Robson) : Snakes from the United States, Europe, and Japan could colonise in New Zealand, says the snake expert who killed a venomous pit snake found in Sockburn. : Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries herpetologist Davor Bejakovich, who led a team of officials that fumigated a shipping container in Sockburn yesterday after the owner of a local business reported seeing a small green snake inside, said the snake would not have survived long in the wild. : The 70cm snake, which was dead when officials entered the container after fumigation, was used to tropical climates, he said. : "It is far too cold here, even for Australian snakes. But there are plenty of snakes that could live in New Zealand from the US, Europe, Japan, and other temperate countries," he said. : : SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Hong Kong) 23 March 00 Rare 'immigrants' slip into controversy : Wellington (DPA): The discovery of two live snakes in snake-free New Zealand in the past two weeks has sparked an alert. : A one-metre green snake was found in a container shipped from Indonesia at the South Island port of Lyttelton on Tuesday. A week earlier, a venomous eastern brown snake from Australia was found in rubbish near a container yard at Petone, near Wellington. : The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said finding two live snakes in two weeks was unprecedented. : Minister for the Environment and Biosecurity Marian Hobbs promised a clampdown on border inspection procedures yesterday following claims by the Green Party. : Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said only five per cent of about 350,000 containers entering every year were inspected. : "Given this appalling rate, who can say how many more snakes have successfully entered this country?" she asked. : New Zealand has no snakes or any other poisonous creatures, apart from the katipo spider, closely related to the Australian red-back. : http://www.scmp.com/News/Asia/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-20000323030639578.asp :

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