Boa constrictor escapes after owner takes it camping

Snakes just don’t make great camping companions, as one camper who took his boa constrictor to Addison Oaks County Park with him last week found out. Now, the 5-foot-long reptile is on the loose in the 1,140-acre park in southeast Michigan.

“It’s not that the snake is a threat to the public, just (to) small animals and so on,” said Dan Stencil, executive officer for Oakland County Parks and Recreation. “It’s very much a juvenile snake.” Stencil said the camper, who was staying in a pop-up trailer at the park’s campground, alerted park officials last Thursday, that his snake had got loose.



“He’s been cited in violation of park rules,” Stencil said. “We’re not 100 percent sure the person didn’t take it back with him,” Stencil said. “We’ve heard stories of them climbing into crevices and buildings and so on — it could still be in the person’s camper.”

The county has brought in herpetologists to look for the snake. The park has two lakes and spring-fed ponds. Brittany Bird, natural resources planner for Oakland County Parks and Recreation, said the snake “could not take a human at all.” Park officials say people shouldn’t be deterred from coming to the park.