31-07-2025
Holiday hotspot hit with snake invasion as expert calls for 'thousands of traps'
Spanish island Mallorca attracts millions of Brits each year with its beautiful beaches and warm weather.
However, the popular holiday hotspot has been hit with a foreign snake invasion that threatens to damage the local ecosystem.
Mallorca is home to several snake species but concerns have been raised as the island has seen a large increase in horseshoe snakes over recent years.
Biologist Samuel Pinya from the University of the Balearic Islands told Spanish news publication Diario AS: 'We need thousands and thousands of traps to reduce the population.'
Horseshoe snakes are native to southwestern Europe and northern Africa, grow up to around 170cm in length and can swim.
And a surge in the reptiles has caused sargantana, a species of lizard, to disappear in several areas.
'Sergansers play a pollinating role in plants. Their disappearance could trigger a chain reaction whose outcome we don't know,' Samuel stressed.
He explained the horseshoe snake population 'is much higher than on the mainland'.
The biologist urged for fast action against the snakes.
'Either we drastically increase trapping and extraction, or we will have to get used to living with these snakes,' he said.
According to the Express, Nicolau Cerdà, from the Association of Organic Farmers and Producers of Mallorca (APAEMA), explained the issues the snakes are causing in Mallorca specifically.
He said: 'These snakes are beneficial for farmland on the mainland, but on an island like Mallorca, with no predators at all, they become voracious and hunt all wildlife.
'They have no competitors and cause imbalances in nature.'
The expert revealed the impact the horseshoe snake has had on the environment already.
He said: 'They've almost wiped out the lizard, and all small fauna, such as geckos, amphibians or small birds like chicks, sparrows or partridges, they wipe them out.'
Samuel explained how the population has gradually grown since 2003, and blames the lack of action earlier on for the more recent surge.
Mallorca is home to several snake species but concerns have been raised that the disruptive horseshoe snake could be dangerous for the eco-system
They are not venomous and are unlikely to be life-threatening to humans.
However, they can bite, so travellers should stay away and alert local officials if they spot one.
The horseshoe snake isn't officially classified as an invasive species in Mallorca, but is in Ibiza.
Joan Company, president of the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA), called for change. He revealed because of the classification, local individuals are left to deal with the problem instead of professionals.
