A walker made an unusual discovery on the banks of the Danube in Lower Bavaria: a snake more than two metres long. It turned out to be a South American anaconda, far from its natural habitat.
On the banks of the Danube near Kirchroth in the district of Straubing-Bogen, a 66-year-old woman out for a walk spotted a constrictor snake more than two metres long basking in the sun. She immediately realised that it was not a native species. “It was a longer snake than the ones we have here,” she told police.
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Grass snakes and Aesculapian snakes are familiar sights in the region. These non-venomous species can also grow to considerable lengths, with Aesculapian snakes reaching nearly two metres.
Police and firefighters arrived at the scene, accompanied by a reptile specialist who quickly identified the animal as an anaconda, a large constrictor native to South America.
The animal had apparently been kept in captivity for some time and offered no resistance when it was captured.
Keeping an anaconda in Bavaria is permitted only under strict conditions. Large constrictor snakes are classified as “dangerous animals of a wild species” under Bavarian law.
Anacondas can grow up to nine metres long and weigh as much as 200 kilograms. Smaller specimens feed mainly on birds, which remain the principal prey of males throughout their lives. As females grow and reach sexual maturity, they switch to larger prey, including mammals such as capybaras and young deer, as well as reptiles such as caimans. Anacondas kill their prey by constricting it before swallowing it whole.