The dumping of Crush, a boa constrictor, in a skip in Gżira should raise concerns about animal cruelty rather than the danger it poses to people, according to the herpetological society.

Crush was the lucky one of two snakes abandoned just metres from a playground, which gave a man who spoke to this newspaper the fright of his life.

He happened to look in a bag when retrieving an old whisky keg from the skip and came face-to-face with what he believed was a three-metre long python. Often confused with the python species, it was, in fact, two boa constrictors, which do not grow as large.

Crush, who is about a metre long, had been smashed in the head before being dumped with another snake, probably its sibling, in the sack.

After the terrified man called the police, the Animal Welfare Department contacted the Malta Herpetological Society’s vice president, Matthew Vella, a vet assistant. Believing both were dead, it was decided that an autopsy be carried out but it was then discovered that one was still alive. “The snakes were badly beaten. One of them suffocated in its blood. Crush was left for dead. We didn’t think he was going to make it. He had his head crushed in, lacerations in his mouth and burn marks all over his body. But with a lot of love and quite a bit of treatment and care, he’s doing much better now,” society president Chris McGowan said when contacted. Mr Vella believes Crush survived because the welfare department arrived on site immediately.

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