
NEWS AND VIEWS: How often do you see a brightly coloured, exotic snake slithering around the passenger compartment of a commuter train in Yorkshire, UK? Never is the answer until yesterday when passengers switched carriages after a 5-foot corn snake was spotted slithering over the fitments and seats of the carriage.
People took photographs and disappeared as quickly as possible! The snake has been called Noodles. It seems that quite a few of the passengers had the presence of mind to video and photograph the snake. Perhaps this is unsurprising because nowadays everyone has a great camera on their phone and everyone photographs and videos everything. It is a new culture across the globe. We are drowning in images!
One photograph showed it slithering over a bin behind some chairs and another showed it by a door.
The Times newspaper tells us that Sophie Johnstone, a Leeds resident, tweeted: “Oh Lord, there is an actual snake on the strain.”
The conductor was alerted who, I presume, contacted the RSPCA. They rescued the snake at Leeds station I presume. They decided that it was a corn snake and therefore non-venomous. It is native to North America.
And the reason why the snake was found in the carriage is because this particular species of snake is a popular exotic pet in the UK. They are sometimes referred to as red rat snakes. Comment: it seems that somebody was carrying the snake in their hand luggage and it escaped. Perhaps they did not know it had escaped. They might have left the carriage and left the snake behind. I wonder whether they have been reunited!
The snake is now being cared for at Reptilia a reptile rescue center in Wakefield. It is hoped that the owner will come forward but if not within the next fortnight the snake will be rehomed.