Qantas Snake On A Plane

On Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, a Mandarin rat snake was found aboard a Qantas Boeing 747 airplane grounded at Sydney, Australia’s International Airport. What was supposed to be a flight to Tokyo, Japan for 370 passengers turned out to be an overnight stay at surrounding hotels.

ABC reports that the mere 8-inch long reptile was hanging out in the passenger cabin when Qantas staff members spotted it by the door. None of the passengers were aboard the plane at the time, and they never got a chance to take flight until the next day.

“Exotic reptiles of this kind can harbor pests and diseases not present in Australia,” a representative of Australia’s Agricultural Department said. Although this type of snake is harmless and not a real threat to humans, the department refused to take any chances. According to BBC News, the rat snake was removed from the plane before it was killed. As an extra precaution the plane was also fumigated before returning to full service.

Australia’s Agricultural Department issued another statement concerning just how the serpent boarded the airliner in the first place: “The Department of Agriculture is looking into how the snake came to be on the plane, but isn’t able to speculate at this time.”