BOA ARRIVES

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 16, 20 January 1936, Page 7

BOA ARRIVES

UNWANTED SNAKE

ADMISSION REFUSED

Arriving at Wellington yesterday from Panama by the Remucra, one passenger found that there was no welwme awaiting him in the southern Dominion, in fact the Customs officials explained in no measured terms that he was the most prohibited of all prohibited immigrants. The passenger, a three-year-old boa constrictor, was not rejected because he failed to pass a language test or any other test —he simply and emphatically was not wanted.

The- unwelcome visitor came across the broad Pacific in a. comfortable cabin, which he shared with his owner and his owner's wife, and from what could be seen of him, he proved quite a good companion on the way, being quiet, well mannered, and of sober habits, eating once every three weeks, and drinking, if at all, very, very little. Mi*. Boa, though still in his infancy, has had quite a romantic career, having first been the pet of an adventurous resident of the Isthmus of Panama. At ' that time—some, two years ago—his babyhood was spent in the company « of a dear little sister, and it is to be feared that neither Mr. or Miss Boa troubled greatly when their patron ■ left the Isthmus after consigning them •to the care of the Editor of a bilingual paper in the ancient and ros mantic city of Panama. REPTILIAN TRAGEDY. ' ■ Unfortunately the 'defection of their first patron spelt tragedy for Miss Boa, 1 and it cannot even be said that her brother mourns his loss or regretted her early fate; unless he suffered from indigestion after her departure from his cage. The Editor, who has grown ,at- " tached to Mr. Boa, treated his niew .possessions with due courtesy from ' the outset, even to capturing a young ' rat for their first meal in his home. ,He placed the rat in'their cage, and they, not having yet learned proper , table manners, struck at it at the same ' time. That was the beginning of the end as far as Miss Boa was concerned.

, Now a boa, although a reptile, is not ,;venemous, but seizes its prey with shark-like, back-angled teeth, and, ;after squeezing the life out of it with a hearty hug, swallows it whole. Unfortunately Mr. Boa started out to swallow the rat from one end at the time that Miss Boa sat down to breakfast at the other end of the table, or .rather, rat. They met lip to lip at 'half-way, and Miss Boa proved conclusively that the inside running does not always pay, for she disappeared along with the rat, and it took her brother between two and three weeks ;to digest her. NO SNAKES WANTED. . Since the demise of Miss Boa her brother1 has lived alone, and, as he is a bright little fellow, now abouMve feet long, his patron, on leaving for a holiday visit to New Zealand,-brought him along with the intention of presenting 'him to the Wellington Zoo. However, New Zealand has always been free from snakes, and those who vide passports for incomers consider that it should remain free, so Mr. Boa is still on board the Remuera where he apfpears to be quite happy. • When the vessel reached Wellington yesterday, Mr. Boa was interviewed by as many Pressmen as any Prime /Minister p ,:has a right to expect, but/ iikit a discreet Prime Minister, he re--fused'to ■commit himself in any way. He came out of his cabin in the hands of his patron, his beady black eyes and darting tongue giving him a nonchalant expression somewhat negatived by a- bulge about midway along his figure, due, it is understood, to his ■last meal, a partridge eaten about a week ago. Incidentally, Mr. Boa is a dainty eater and abhors anything but iresh meat. It has to be fresh enough .to show life before he w.QI strike, constrict, and swallow it, but he is a somewhat simple soul in. some ways, and the partridge at present resting under ■his bottom waist-coat button-was just as dead when it appeared before him a week ago as it is at the present moment. But it fluttered around at the end of a piece of string, and the rest can be guessed. "SHOT" BY THE CAMERA. In the course of the interview Mr. Boa strolled, about on the top of a table while the Pressmen gathered around. He wrapped himself around a large bowl, and when a cameraman politely suggested that he should step up on deck and be "shot," he appeared to misunderstand that photographic term, and held fast to the bowl, which had to be lifted from his coils before his patron could carry him into the sunlight. When interviewed Mr. Boa was dressed in a check-patterned suit of dark grey skin, which proved quite gay beneath the sun's rays, colours sometimes seen in a thin film of oil showing as he looked out over Wellington City. :

After posing gracefully before a brace of cameras, Mr. Boa retired to the seclusion of his cabin, and if he is not given special consideration by the Department of Immigration, will have to remain there until he can be returned to Panama. Should it be considered that one young boa cannot do any harm in the country, he will not be a severe charge on the zoo authorities for some years as he is satisfied with A rat or pigeon once every three weeks. However, if he lives to grow to maturity, he will reach the stage where 'a pig or sheep will be required to satisfy his craving for nutrition, a fact that may weigh heavily against him when his admission to the country and the zoo is being considered.