Level-headed Fionn unfazed by venemous viper!

by Geraldine Grennan

A 9-year old Offaly schoolboy displayed wisdom way beyond his years on Sunday last when he ‘snaked’ out of his garden rather than confront one of the world’s most dangerous reptiles!

Although he probably still isn’t fully aware of it, Fionn Kilmurray from Fahy, just outside the village of Rhode in north Offaly made a split-second decision that proved the correct course of action.

Picture: 9-year old Fionn Kilmurray from Fahy in Rhode, county Offaly, poses with the deadly sea-scaled viper he discovered in his back garden on Sunday last, along with his 6-year old brother, Rían, and James Hennessy from the National Reptile Zoo in Kilkenny.

Instead of moving in close to examine a large snake that was lying in the grass in his back garden, the level-headed 4th class pupil in Ballybrien National School ran back into his kitchen to tell his Dad, Jack, that he had found “something cool” in the garden.

“Jack went out with Fionn and the two of them came back inside and said there was a snake in the garden, but I just laughed as I thought they were joking me,” said mum Aoife.

When she realised the snake story was no joke, Aoife and her husband decided to ring the National Reptile Zoo in Kilkenny. “Mercifully they answered the phone and we were advised to put a box over the snake until somebody from the Zoo arrived and I sent them on photographs” she says.

The Kilmurrays only knew of the existence of the Reptile Zoo having spent a few days holidays in Kilkenny in July. “I was looking up things to do with the boys and I came across the National Reptile Zoo but it was closed due to Covid, so maybe that was an omen of things to come” laughs Aoife.

When the Director of the National Reptile Zoo, James Hennessy, arrived in Rhode on Sunday evening he informed the Kilmurrays that the snake was a saw-scaled viper, which is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world and is responsible for more deaths globally than any other snake.

It is the first time that the species has been found in Ireland, and it is understood that it may have come into the country in a consignment of paving slabs from India.

“We were putting down a patio and we had pallets of slabs outside the back door since last Tuesday, so I shudder when I think that the snake was somewhere in the pallets since then and our back door was open most of the time and the kids were going in an out, sometimes in their bare feet in the hot weather,” says Aoife.

The Kilmurrays are very thankful that either of their youngest sons, Rían (6) or Ruairí, who is only three, didn’t spot the snake first. “He would almost certainly have gone over to examine it a bit more closely,” says Aoife “Fionn is very level-headed so thank God he made the right decision to tell his Dad first.”

Aoife says Fionn is very quiet and was “a bit underwhelmed” by all the publicity surrounding the discovery of the venomous viper. “I think he was glad to get school out of the way today and get all the questions over in the one day.”

Meanwhile, as life returns to normal for the Kilmurrays after their eventful weekend, the deadly snake who spent a few days in Offaly is expected to be sent to a research centre in the UK which specialises in anti-venom research.