An increasing number of snakes are being caught in Mallorca. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

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The Balearic Environment Ministry has is trying to limit the spread of snakes in the Balearics because numbers have been increasing in some areas of the centre and the east of Mallorca over the past few years.

It appears that most of these snakes have arrived on the island ‘accidentally’ inside the trunks of large olive trees imported from the mainland.

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As a result the Environment Ministry is restricting the entry of large ornamental trees in order to prevent the snakes and their eggs from also ‘sneaking’ into the island.

The regulation, which will come into force next week, limits the entry of olive, carob and holm oak trees with trunks larger than 40 centimetres during the periods when the snakes’ eggs are laying and hatching.

During this period, people wanting to import a tree with these characteristic must request an authorisation from the Environment Ministry where they will have to prove that the necessary control and biosecurity measures have been adopted to avoid the introduction of snakes.