Exotic hazard: golfers confront 3-metre-long boa constrictors on UK course

Pair of sick snakes discovered at club in County Durham presumed to have been dumped there by owner

For most golfers, the biggest hindrance they are likely to come across during a round is a strong gust of wind or getting their ball caught in a bunker. For golfers in County Durham, however, the obstacles that players have encountered are 3 metres long and covered in scales.

Two boa constrictors have been found on Blackwell Grange golf club in Darlington one week apart, with the first being found on 13 June during a children’s golf lesson when a 12-year-old girl’s shot landed directly on the snake.

Aaron Cox, 40, who had been conducting the lesson, said he used his golf club to move the boa away from the course before putting it in a box. He did the same when the second boa was found near the rough of the course on 20 June. He said he took both snakes to a nearby reptile shop, but that both died due to being “riddled with disease”.

Cox, who moved to the UK from Australia eight years ago, said he was used to snakes in his native country and that it was not uncommon to see adders around the course, but that large snakes such as boas had never been seen in this part of England.

“I’ve been over here for what, six, seven summers, and not once has it ever happened. And now we’ve seen two in a week, and now there’s three more just down in North Yorkshire,” he said.

Boas are native to South America and can grow to be longer than 3 metres. Despite their size they are generally viewed as not being dangerous to humans because they are non-venomous and rarely attack people as they prefer to target smaller prey.

The snakes are popular pets but can live for more than 30 years and require a lot of food and care, leading to some owners abandoning them. Cox believes that their former owner left them on the course “because they can’t look after them, the food bill started getting too big and they were unwell, so instead of probably taking them to the RSPCA or to a pet shop or to a vet they’ve just dumped them and let them die”.

Cox said he was upset about the snake’s mistreatment, and that he hoped people would seriously consider whether they were suited to keep boas or any kind of pet if they were not able to look after them properly.

“It’s a shame and a bit of a cruel act by whoever did it,” Cox said. “I just hope they think about it twice before they do it again, or people that have pet snakes, think twice about what they do with them if they can’t look after them.”

The RSPCA said it was concerned about the snakes being left on the course and requested that anyone with “first-hand information that shows these reptiles have been deliberately abandoned” reach out to the charity to help find who was responsible.