MATTHEWS, N.C. -- A major scare avoided Thursday night in Matthews after a snake from South America was found in the woods behind a restaurant. Experts say it's a red-tailed boa constrictor.
"Putting a snake this big out is pretty irresponsible," said Jennifer Gordon. "I have to sort of think somebody knows better."
Gordon, who's the director of Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, is glad that "Sheba," as she's named her, is safe here now, but she can't stay forever. They expect this boa to grow as long as 10 feet. If it lived here at that point, Sheba's diet would change, too.
"They have to start eating bigger things like cats and small dogs," Gordon said.
Matthews Animal Control officer Jeremy Schnabel says two people found the snake back in the woods late Thursday afternoon behind the Red Lobster off Independence Boulevard. He says because it's native to South America, it wouldn't survive the winter if it had stayed out there. He's frustrated that whomever owned this snake didn't go through the proper measures to give it up.
"There are plenty of rescue groups and organizations like Carolina Waterfowl that would've openly taken the snake in," Schnabel said.
Gordon says the snake isn't poisonous and most likely wouldn't bite or strangle a human because of their size. Regardless, she wouldn't want anybody running into Sheba while walking through the woods.
"It would probably scare the crud out of anybody who saw it," Gordon said. "And if you care about an animal like this you wouldn't do that because most people would kill it."
Officer Schnabel says because the snake was in good health when they found it, he doesn't think it had been back in those woods for more than a month.