Venomous Copperhead Snake Captured In Montclair Parking Lot

MONTCLAIR, NJ — When Montclair residents came across a venomous copperhead snake last week, they did the right thing, according to a local animal control officer.

They left it alone.

Last Tuesday, Montclair ACO Michele Shiber got an unusual call about a rogue reptile hanging out in the Upper Montclair Plaza parking lot. It’s a rarity for the Montclair area, but she and her teammates were ready for action.

“We never know what adventure awaits us when the phone rings on any given day,” Shiber said.

After getting the call about the loose snake, Montclair animal control had the caller send them a photo of the animal. Once the reptile was identified as a northern copperhead, animal control officers rushed to the scene to keep people from interacting with the snake and to prevent its escape.

Animal control officers carefully captured the snake using a net and a pair of snake tongs, then placed it into a locking plastic container. Upon returning to the Montclair shelter, they contacted the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife (NJDF&W).

“Because we have no idea from where the snake originated, NJDF&W will transfer it to an organization that will use it for educational purposes,” Shiber said. “Relocation of the snake to a natural habitat is not permitted because of the risk of disease transference to the new location and to resident snakes in that area.”

If the snake was kept as a pet – which is illegal in New Jersey without a permit from the state – it would not be able to fend for itself and hunt for food as a wild snake normally would, she added.

Residents did the right thing by contacting animal control and keeping the snake within eyesight but out of reach until ACOs arrived on the scene, Shiber said.

Montclair Township animal control officers are available 24/7 by calling the Animal Shelter during business hours at 973-744-8600, or after hours by calling the Montclair Police Department’s non-emergency number at 973-744-1234.

According to conservewildlifenj.org, copperheads can be found in the northern portion of the state in the New Jersey/New York border area and in parts of Hunterdon, Mercer, and Somerset counties. They may also be found in the Palisades in Bergen County.

Last Saturday, a copperhead snake bit a Paterson man near the bank of the Passaic River. Authorities said they didn’t know how the snake got there, or how the unidentified man came into contact with it. The snake was not a pet and could have come from a nearby river.

The man is "doing OK" and expected to recover, authorities said.

• See related article: Venomous Copperhead Snake Bites Man In Paterson

While there are sometimes frightening encounters between human and snake in the Garden State, residents are much more likely to encounter one of the state’s many non-venomous species than they are to run into a copperhead, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) says.

When encounters with venomous species such as the copperhead do occur, they’re likely to happen where houses and buildings have been built along the migratory paths snakes have used for millennia between dens and foraging areas, the NJDEP states.

Under the state’s Endangered and Nongame Species Conservation Act, it is illegal to kill, harm, harass or collect any native, non-game wildlife. All relocations must be handled by professionals to ensure the snake’s survival.

“Snakes see us as the predator,” a zoologist with the Department of Environmental Protection’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program recently said. “Their first choice is to try to lay still and blend in with their surroundings or, if feeling threatened, to try to get away.”

According to the NJDEP:

“Snakes fill an important ecological role, controlling rodents and insects and serving as a food source for raccoons, bobcats, hawks, owls and other animals. In short, snakes are indicators of a healthy, vibrant ecosystem. Yet each year many are intentionally killed by people who don’t understand them. While many killings occur out of fear, few people have ever been bitten by venomous snakes in New Jersey – and there is no record of anyone dying of being bitten by a venomous snake in the wild in New Jersey.”

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