A snake has hitched a ride from Queensland to Glasgow in a Scottish tourist’s shoe.
Yes, it’s a real-life Snakes on a Plane story, only with significantly less swearing and far fewer guest appearances from Samuel L. Jackson.
Moira Boxall found the spotted python in her shoe last week after returning from visiting family in Queensland.
Her son-in-law Paul Airlie, who lives in Mackay, told the ABC Boxall thought the snake was a practical joke at first.
“She actually thought that Sarah and I had put a fake snake in her shoe to wind her up, so at first she thought it was a joke until she touched it and it moved,” he said.
“She absolutely lost it – it was her first real encounter with a snake.”
Airlie said his mother-in-law had woken him up at 3am just days before returning to Scottland because she thought she saw a snake in her room.
“We searched the room and there was no snake. However, it turns out there was a snake, as it had gone and hidden in her shoe,” he said.
“Obviously she just picked the shoe up and stuck it in the bag and then it was there.
“Somehow or other it got from Mackay to Glasgow without being detected.”
Boxall put the shoe with the snake inside in her garden and placed a box over the top before calling Airlie in Australia who got in touch with the Scottish RSPCA.
“We had to tell them it was from Australia and that it could have been a venomous snake,” Airlie said.
A photo taken by Boxall shows the snake has shed its skin during its 15,000 km journey, making way for some fantastic jokes.
“Interestingly, when I put it on social media someone commented saying, ‘you can now say you have snake-skinned shoes’,” Airlie said.
The ABC reported the snake is in quarantine in Scotland and may soon find a new home at Glasgow zoo.
