Government vet Dr. Neil Burnie said yesterday that he suspected snakes might be finding a way into Bermuda via golf bags.

Several golf clubs in the US warn their players of snakes on the course, and Dr. Burnie reckons some of the reptiles might be slithering into golf bags and hitching a free ride to Bermuda.

Dr. Burnie was yesterday called to Fisher Brother's paint and hardware store after owner Mr. Gerald Fisher reported a customer had come across a dead snake on the lawn in front of the store.

After examining the two-foot snake, the vet said he believed it to be a non-poisonous garter snake -- common in the United States. And he guessed it got onto the Island in a golf bag.

"You find a lot of these kind of snakes on golf courses,'' he said. "I suspect it had occasion to climb into someone's golf bag.'' If not, Dr. Burnie said it might have been a pet snake which managed to escape.

He stressed that snakes are illegal in Bermuda and people should not attempt to smuggle them in. "If they are found they will be confiscated,'' he warned.

However, Dr. Burnie said not that many snakes were being found on the Island.

The last one discovered, he said, was a year ago when a live python -- someone had smuggled in as a pet -- escaped and was found in the middle of a road.

Dr. Burnie said although the garter snake found at Fisher Brother's was non-venomous, it would have been a danger to small birds and their eggs.

Mr. Fisher believes he knows how the snake came to its death. "My brother cut the grass the other day so I have a feeling that may be how he died,'' he said, pointing to a nick on the lower end of the snake.

Dr. Burnie agreed: "It looks like it could have been sliced by a lawn mower.'' SLITHERY FIND -- Mr. Gerald Fisher holds up the garter snake which he found dead in front of his Camp Hill store yesterday morning.