Riot Police Arrive at Vets Now With Escaped Snake!
Vets Now in Belfast received an unexpected visit from the riot police on Saturday, complete with full body armour, face shields, riot shields, night sticks and a very wriggly pillowcase.
On Saturday 30 August, the Police Service of Northern Ireland received a call from an almost hysterical member of the public who had been watching television with her friend when out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a snake slithering across the floor.
The police were given a description of the animal and thinking that there was an extremely long and pretty nasty character on the loose, they despatched the riot police. Arriving with their protective gear, they prepared themselves to tackle the creature and entered the house to meet the harbinger of this terror, which turned out to be an 18 inch corn snake, which was quickly wrangled into a pillow case and taken to the Vets Now clinic in Belfast where he received appropriate emergency care.
After two days, and no enquiries from anyone looking for a missing snake, the clinic team realised that the snake might be becoming a more permanent member of the team. They decided that a storage box would no longer do as a home for the newest member of their team and took a trip to City Reptiles, a local reptile store to stock up on some plants, some dead frozen rodents and a new home to give their news slithery friend a fresh start.
However, no sooner had the team got the snake settled in its new home, they received a call from the snake's owners who had been alerted by their very unimpressed neighbours that their snake had gone slitherabout. Their owners arrived at the clinic on Tuesday and were reunited with the snake (Jake) and also given the news that he was a she. It transpired that this was not the first of Jake's trips into the great wide open and her last adventure had been a four month foray into the unknown.
Speaking about the temporary addition to the clinic team, veterinary nurse Becky Holland commented; "We really became quite attached to Jake during the few days she spent with us at the clinic and although we are obviously delighted that Jake was reunited with her rightful owners, we still feel a slight pang of sadness when we look at her empty vivarium which housed the snake who came to stay but only for a short time!"