Snakes in the Regent's Canal

SNAKES have been discovered around the Regent's Canal at Camden, with an estimated 30 of them in the trees, climbing houses and by the waterway.

It has been discovered that they are Aesculapian snakes, which can grow up to six feet, and originate from Yugoslavia, Allan Richards tells us.

Cull

The London Invasive Species Initiative (LISI), government advisory quango, has called for a cull of the snakes, that are breeding, quoting the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 that makes it illegal to allow the species to spread or escape into the wild.

The species are used to milder climates and their habitat is by water. They have been seen around Camden since the late 1990s.

However, the ecologists have criticised the plans, stating the snakes should be ‘preserved.'