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Close-up of the head of boa constrictor non-venomous snake in the grass
It is not particularly uncommon to come across a snake when you are out on the golf course. However, a man who works as a professional at a club in England got a very unexpected surprise when he came across two boa constrictors lurking in the grass during the course of a week.
The nature of golf means that encounters with nature during a round are not uncommon, as courses tend to boast plenty of wildlife to the point where the rules of the game allow for holes dug by an animal, encounters with “dangerous” creatures, including (but not necessarily limited to) “venomous snakes, stinging bees, stinging bees, and alligators, where you can be a fire, alligators,” creature with your ball.
Most golfers who regularly play the same spots are aware of the animals they may encounter and keep their heads on a swivel for those that have the potential to do some damage if you draw their ire.
It’s safe to assume that a man who works on a golf course in England is intimately familiar with the fauna it boasts, but he was treated to quite a discovery that can apparently be attributed to a negligent pet owner.
Two boa constrictors were discovered on a golf course in England in the same week
Blackwell Grange Golf Club has operated in Darlington, England for close to a century. The public course, located in the north of the country (just over an hour north of Leeds), is staffed by PGA professionals, including Aaron Cox, who oversees its Junior Golf Academy.
According to The Guardian, Cox was giving a lesson to a 12-year-old golfer on the course June 13 when she hit a shot that ended up landing directly on an animal he had never encountered while walking the course: a roughly 10-foot-long boa constrictor sitting in the grass.
Vipers and grass snakes are the only two species commonly found in the wild in the UK, so it was naturally surprising to come across a boa constrictor, which is only native to Central and South America and parts of the Caribbean.
Cox told the outlet that he wrestled the snake with his club before putting it in a box and taking it to a local reptile store. It turns out that wasn’t the only trip he ended up taking there that week, as on June 20 he found another boa of the same length lying near the rough.
Unfortunately, both of these snakes died shortly after being discovered, as Cox said they were “riddled with disease” and suspected they had been dumped on the track by someone who had kept them as pets. The story also came to the attention of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who urged anyone who might know the identity of the culprit to come forward with information.
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