During a break at Tirsdalens Skole in Randers, a 9th-grade student made a surprising discovery of a boa constrictor left in a plastic box in a nearby forest area. The cold temperature had almost ended the snake’s life by the time it was found on Wednesday. The boy and a friend acted quickly, contacting the Danish Animal Protection’s (Dyrenes Beskyttelse) emergency hotline, which arrived on the scene to take care of the chilled snake. “Its body was almost shut down due to the cold. If no one had passed by, it probably would have died,” explained Mikkel Søndergaard, an animal keeper at the Danish Animal Protection’s shelter in Tranbjerg, to TV2 Østjylland.
Søndergaard added that this is a case of abandonment, where the owner left the snake behind. It is illegal and usually requires a special permit to own a boa constrictor, as the species is known to be more aggressive than other snakes. The investigation revealed that the snake was a yellow anaconda, a species that can grow between 2 and 3.5 meters long. This incident has raised questions about responsible animal ownership and the necessary measures to ensure animal welfare.