James Hennessy, the director of the National Reptile Zoo in Co Kilkenny has stated that animals accidentally traveling with holidaymakers happens “more than you’d think”.
A venomous Fisher’s Fat Tailed Scorpion travelled over 4,000 miles from Kenya to Ireland in the bag of a woman from Co Wicklow.
Although it is not common, instances of animals ending up in luggage are encountered, including geckos, scorpions, frogs, and snakes.
While such incidents are not typically dangerous, most animals do not survive the journey due to dehydration and rough handling in luggage.
“The scorpion is now doing quite well after being very dehydrated. He doesn’t have a name yet as we don’t know if he is a boy or a girl. We don’t want to annoy him by checking just yet. He is only small, little under an inch long, about 2cm long. He’s already had a bit of an ordeal travelling over to Ireland so we want to leave him alone for a bit while he settles in.”
“The woman went to pack up her bag which had been sitting in a locker in Kenya and when she got home she unpacked and left the bag in the bedroom.
“Two weeks later she moved the bag and discovered the scorpion hidden under the bag. Luckily the house the woman is living in has underfloor heating so the scorpion was nice and toasty warm on the floor.’
“It probably would have survived pretty well in the house due to the underfloor heating, the only issue is the scorpion might have dried out since floors like that are very dry.”
“We are going to hang onto the scorpion, he is only small and he is not a danger as we have him in venomous unit where he is nice and secure. We can use him for education for third level colleges.’
