The Animal Ambulance Hoorn received a very special report from Venhuizen. A cat had caught a ring blow in a ditch and brought it home with it. The snake was injured and was taken to Wild Shelter de Bonte Piet in Midwoud.
“It was also a special experience for us, because we have never received these kinds of reports before,” says Fred Perrier of Dierenambulance Hoorn. “Grass snakes are often more afraid of us than we are of them. So we may have passed such an animal once, but then we didn’t see anything about it.”
The cat from Venhuizen, however, had the grass snake in sight and was able to grab the animal. The grass snake suffered minor injuries to the surface of the skin, and the animal was taken to Wild Shelter De Bonte Piet in Midwoud for a check-up.
Experts consulted
When they arrived there, the volunteers sat with their hands in their hair for a while, says Marlies Testroote of De Bonte Piet. “This was the first time we’ve ever gotten a grass snake in,” says Testroote. “Since we normally get other animals with us, we weren’t sure how to treat this animal.”
After the volunteers had called a number of biologists and forest rangers, it became clear which treatment was best for the grass snake supplied. “They also let us know that this is a unique experience. A few years ago a dead grass snake was brought to us, this was the first living specimen that we received.”
In the end, employees were told that the cat bite in the animal’s skin did not require treatment, and that the animal should be released from the area where it was found.
Largest snake in the Netherlands
Although the snake has not been measured, the employees of De Bonte Piet know that it is a female snake. Grass snakes are on average one meter long, with the males generally being a lot smaller. The animals can eventually even grow to 1.40 meters in length.
“It is the largest snake native to the Netherlands,” says Testroote. “However, they are more common in Limburg and Gelderland. So it is very special that the snake was found in Venhuizen.”
The snake was released again last Saturday. The text continues below the video.
After the snake stayed overnight for observation in Midwoud, it was released around the place where the animal was found on Saturday. “That went perfectly, I must say,” says Fred Perrier of Dierenambulance Hoorn. “Since we brought the animal to De Bonte Piet ourselves, we also released her again. We do that more often, because it is the easiest.”
Marlies Testroote of the animal shelter says that they will continue discussions with experts to investigate the area where the grass snake was found. “It’s interesting to see how that works from a nature point of view,” she says. “Maybe there are a lot of snake prey in that area.”