Man cooking chicken for roadside barbecue finds dead snake in charcoal bag

NAHIKU, Hawaii (HNN/Gray News) - A Hawaii man was cooking chicken for lunch at a roadside grill when he noticed a slithery surprise in a bag of charcoal.

Roy Hanks was in for a surprise while cooking huli huli chicken just before lunch last Saturday for Hana Hawaiian BBQ, a roadside barbecue at Nahiku Marketplace on the island of Maui.

“My husband was running the grill. He went to throw charcoal on the fire. He opened the charcoal bag and found the snake on top of the bag,” said Sharon Fillazar-Hanks, Roy’s wife and the manager of Hana Hawaiian BBQ.

She said she did not believe her husband at first.

“He sent a picture,” Fillazar-Hanks said. “I thought it was a prank, but it wasn’t. It was real, but it was dead.”

Fillazar-Hanks called the Maui Police Department, who responded and then contacted the Hawaii Department of Agriculture Quarantine Division.

MPD officials said the department told officers the snake could be disposed of.

The department confirmed the charcoal bag was packaged outside of Hawaii.

“It was likely already deceased during the packing process in its state or country of origin,” said Jai Cunningham, Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture & Biosecurity public information officer. “DAB has seen similar cases with baled hay, where snakes seek shelter in the unprocessed product, are killed during processing and are then unintentionally shipped to Hawaiʻi.”

The snake’s species is unclear. Based on photos, state officials said it is likely a nonvenomous rat snake.

“Some people say possible juvenile copperhead snake. Then, one said a rat snake. I’m like, ‘A snake is a snake. We don’t need it here,’” Fillazar-Hanks said.