Police in Birmingham were forced to deal with a bit of a surprise recently after they were driving along and spotted a massive snake slithering in the middle of the road.
The serpent, a boa constrictor to be precise, was spotted and apprehended yesterday (17 June) after officers resorted to unorthodox methods to catch the snake.
With the use of a pillowcase and broom, they were able to catch the boa constrictor and take it to a nearby reptile shop where the animal's condition could be examined.
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Fortunately it was unharmed, and luckily the officers had scooped it up before some other motorist had managed to squash it flat.
Of course, that does now leave the police with the mystery of the runaway snake as they have to work out how it got there in the first place and who it belonged to.
The serpent was recovered from Park Lane, Aston with at least three officers stepping in to sweep up the animal and get it to safety.
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Although massive and quite scary-looking, the boa constrictor is not generally considered all that dangerous to humans.
While they can squeeze the life out of their prey, the most they'd likely be able to do to a person is give them a bite if the snake felt threatened or cornered.
Remember, they're more scared of you than you are of them.
Since they're not venomous, a bite would hurt about as much as you'd expect getting bitten by a snake to hurt but it would be unlikely to leave you breathing your last any time soon.
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Nevertheless, it's for the best that the police managed to scoop it up.
Police are now looking for the person who actually owns the massive snake, which has found a new temporary home until the original owner claims it or someone else takes it.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police confirmed that they'd managed to catch the snake and hoped the owner would come forward.
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They said: "We often have to deal with the odd slippery customer, but officers got an off-the-scale shock when they encountered a boa constrictor in the middle of a busy Birmingham road.
"Officers from our operational support unit were driving down Park Lane yesterday afternoon when they spotted the large snake moving across the road."
"But they soon had the situation in the bag as they gently manoeuvred the creature into a pillowcase before taking it for checks at a local reptile centre."
"Staff at Birmingham Reptiles confirmed that the common boa constrictor had come to no harm and they'll be looking after it until its owner claims it or it's rehomed."
Joe Harker