A snake has been found on a construction site in south Auckland while contractors were flushing out a new pipe.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) says the snake is dead and there is "no evidence of any further snakes and there is no threat to the public".
A person posted an image of the snake to Facebook on behalf of a friend. This person, who has asked to remain anonymous, told Newshub that contractors were flushing out a new pipe on a construction site in Papakura before laying it, which is when the snake came out.
MPI says it commends the worker, who quickly alerted Biosecurity New Zealand of the snake.
"Biosecurity New Zealand responded quickly today to an alert about a snake detection at a construction site in Auckland. One of our incursion investigators has picked up the dead snake," says Michael Taylor, Biosecurity New Zealand team manager for aquatic and environmental health.
"We commend the actions of the worker for quickly alerting Biosecurity New Zealand of the detection in Papakura. Alerts from the public are an important part of the biosecurity system. They allow us to act quickly to eliminate biosecurity threats."
Anyone who spots what could be an unwanted pest or disease is asked to report the sighting to MPI's emergency hotline on 0800 80 99 66.
"We intercept one or two snakes a year. They are normally not venomous and mostly arrive dead, due to treatment of imported cargo," Taylor says.
"Most snake species would be unable to survive New Zealand's relatively cool climate, especially the winter. However, a snake from a cooler area would have a chance of survival. If such a snake were carrying eggs, there is a very small chance that the offspring could survive, but our advice is this is very unlikely."
Taylor adds they will investigate how the snake arrived in New Zealand.
A spokesperson for the Department of Conservation says the snake is a kind of boa or python.
It is currently unknown if the snake was dead when it came out of the pipe.
