A family in Vila Verde has had its ‘pet snake’ seized by the authorities after it bit a child.
The royal python (Python regius) had been purchased in Germany, from an ‘authorised shop’, explain reports – but that doesn’t mean that it is authorised for captivity in Portugal.
Tabloid Correio da Manhã explains that the family had not ‘registered’ the snake here.
They now apparently risk a fine which could reach 20,000 euros, while the snake has been removed to the Braga installations of the ICNF (institute of nature conservation and forests).
As to the bitten child, he is the son of the registered owner, and not in any kind of danger.
The snake is “not considered dangerous” and the bite was dealt with by doctors at Braga hospital.
It was as a result of the boy’s admission that doctors got in touch with the GNR – on the basis that the snake was being kept by the family, in a ‘glass box’.
The snake bit the child as he was feeding it, adds CM.
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