Snake hitches ride on plane
2012-10-29 13:33
Glasgow - A little Mexican snake with a seemingly big dose of wanderlust made his way onto a Thomas Cook flight last week and ended up on the other side of world in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Scotsman reports that 45cm juvenile reptile somehow found his way into the passenger cabin of a Thomas Cook flight bound for Glasgow while it was waiting to take off from Cancun, but he was not spotted until after it touched down on Scottish soil.
Staff cleaning the plane after the 8046km, 10-hour flight found the harmless snake curled up under a row of seats and contacted animal rescue experts from the Scottish SPCA.
Billy Linton, a senior SSPCA inspector with more than 30 years' experience as a zookeeper, said airport staff had been "remarkably calm" considering the nature of the discovery and that while they are not quite certain yet, they suspect that the snake is of the dryadophis family, commonly referred to as American smooth-scaled racers.
"Racers aren't venomous, but, like all snakes, they can bite and Furtivo is very feisty. Although small, he is still a juvenile and has a lot of growing to do," he told the Scottish paper.
In honour of his stealth-like abilities, the snake has been renamed Furtivo, which means "sneak" in Spanish, and it is hoped he will find a new home here in his adopted homeland.
