Mystery still surrounds the discovery of a snake at an Auckland car yard, hidden in a Japanese import.
The snake was found at U-Sell car yard on the North Shore
A Nissan Leaf harboured a stowaway Japanese rat snake that managed to go undetected and ended up in the U-Sell car yard on Auckland’s North Shore.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said the non-venomous snake was found coiled around the engine.
Staff from the Ministry were alerted to the snake’s presence on Sunday afternoon and it was “apprehended” at around 7pm.
U-Sell yard director, Graeme McPheat, said it was bad luck the car was even at their yard. “It was just being stored here, ready to go off to compliance. It was due to be with North Harbour Compliance, but they had a lack of space.
“It was our sales guy who discovered the snake and came back into the office. A woman overheard the conversation about it and the story escalated from there.
“The car wasn’t fumigated, we just removed a few plastic covers and the authorities recovered the snake. The vehicle is still with us and will continue with the compliance checks.”
Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Centre (JEVIC) has confirmed to Autofile that they inspected the vehicle in Japan before it was shipped here.
Euan Philpot, chief executive of JEVIC New Zealand said: “It was confirmed by MPI this morning that the Nissan Leaf, which the snake was found in, was inspected by JEVIC in Japan prior to being shipped to New Zealand.
“JEVIC run robust processes and we don’t know how this incident occurred. But we are working through an internal investigative process, in conjunction with the MPI, and are keen to discover how this happened.”
MPI manager of cargo operations Stu Rawnsley said they’re working hard to find the source.
“We will work backwards from this and identify learnings. We have a very layered biosecurity system and the likes of JEVIC are always thorough. We are refining the systems so we’re picking up everything we can.
“All the people involved in the compliance system are a key part of the process and our aim is to find things as soon as possible. And the snake is being euthanised this afternoon.”
Rawnsley said finding a snake in a car generally occurs around once a year, if that, and it is “one of those things that happen”.
“Our systems are designed for reality, every now and then things will slip past the barriers that are in place. For that reason we train a large number of staff that can handle snakes.”
The Japanese rat snake is considered a domestic, harmless reptile.
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