Snakes on a Plane was far more realistic than we thought, as another case of a snake making its way onto a plane surfaced in Australia last week when a woman found a python curled up in her shoe.
Moria Boxall of Scotland was flying from Queensland to Glasgow on Thursday. When she arrived home after the 9,000-mile journey, she found a python in her shoe, and it even began shedding its skin. Boxall later called the Scottish SPCA.
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“I responded to a call from a woman who had just returned from a holiday in Australia who had found a small snake inside her shoe in her suitcase,” animal rescue officer Taylor Johnstone told CNN. “When I arrived, the snake had been contained by the caller, so I safely removed the snake from the property. Upon examination, the snake was found to be a spotted python which is not venomous.”
Johnstone said the snake is now in quarantine at an animal rescue and re-homing center in Edinburgh.
This is hardly the first time a snake has been found on a plane in real life. Back in November 2016, a snake suddenly slid out of the overhead luggage bin on a short flight from Torreon, Mexico to Mexico City.
“I had to catch it with a blanket and obviously we gave it some magazines to read for a while,” a Twitter user who shared video of the scary scene, wrote. “The snake arrived alive and kicking, frightened but without having paid its airfare. And best of all, priority when it came to landing and animal control experts waiting for the unexpected traveller.”
In December 2012, an Egypt Air flight from Cairo to Kuwait made an emergency landing after a reptile store owner from Kuwait smuggled an Egyptian cobra in his carry-on bag. The snake bit the passenger’s hand, then fell to the floor and slithered around the main cabin. After authorities confiscated the snake, the flight returned to the air.
In July 2018, the TSA reported that someone tried to smuggle a snake onto a plane by hiding it in a hard-drive and wrapping it in a nylon stocking.
“A traveler on her way to the Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) in Barbados attempted to smuggle the snakelet inside of an external hard drive packed in her checked bag,” the TSA wrote on Instagram. “If you think airplane seats can feel constricting, imagine how this little guy felt! Talk about bad memories!”
Released in 2006, Snakes on a Plane stars Samuel L. Jackson as an FBI agent assigned to protect a murder witness on a flight with venomous snakes in the cargo hold. Although poorly received by critics, the film has become a cult hit thanks in part to an unforgettable scene where Jackson yells, “I have had it with these motherf–ing snakes on this motherf–ing plane!”
