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Urgent warning issued over venomous snake sightings

Urgent warning issued over venomous snake sightings

Rhyl Journal17-05-2025
New footage emerged yesterday of the poisonous reptile slithering around on a mountain in Wales on Wednesday morning.
Hiker Lorraine Flower spotted the large adder while out walking on the Blorenge mountain, in Monmouthshire, Wales.
Two days earlier, South Wales Police said they had seen a rise in Adder sightings and urged dog walkers to keep their pets on a lead.
The snake also gave beachgoers a jump scare in Anglesey last month.
On Adder fell onto rocks and began swimming at Porth Wen near Llanbadrig on the Anglesey coast.
"I was just standing on the beach when I saw it fall down from the undergrowth overhanging a small cliff,' Lewis Perrin Williams, a hiker, said.
"That's how it ended up on the beach – I think he might've been a bit sleepy. I found a plank and took him back up to the undergrowth."
Susan Roux saw an adder slithering in tall grass near St Ives in Cornwall earlier this week.
Adders are the UK's only venomous snake in the UK, often found in basking in woodland glades and on heathlands.
They can live up to 15 years and measure up to 80 cm in length.
The Wildlife Trusts said: "The Adder is the UK's only venomous snake but its venom is generally of little danger to humans.
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"An adder bite can be painful and cause inflammation, but is really only dangerous to the very young, ill or old.
"If bitten, medical attention should be sought immediately.
"Adders are secretive animals and prefer to slither off into the undergrowth rather than confront and bite humans and domestic animals – most attacks happen when they are trodden on or picked up.
"Instead, they use their venom to immobilise and kill their prey of small mammals, nestlings and lizards."
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