ILFORD RECORDER (UK) 08 September 10 Snake found in Seven Kings after fatal bite scare (Jenny Coombes)
A "deadly" snake which escaped from a garden a month ago has been found - but appears not to be so deadly after all.
The RSPCA have confirmed that they recovered a corn snake - a harmless breed commonly kept as a pet - from a car bonnet in Aldborough Road South, Seven Kings, on Tuesday evening.
The capture followed a call-out by a resident who first spotted the creature in his car on Sunday.
The escaped snake which broke loose in Belgrave Road, Ilford, at the beginning of August was being treated as a coral snake by police and wildlife experts, based on descriptions they had been given.
The coral is a poisonous snake which has a venomous bite.
The snake was spotted in a car bonnet last week not far from where it went missing, but it escaped before it could be captured.
The car which has been the snake's most recent home is also thought to have been in Belgrave Road recently.
An adult corn snake grows up to about a metre in length. It is mostly orange in colour but its shading and patterns can vary.
Residents in Belgrave Road had said they were "terrified" while the snake was on the loose.
One said: "Why is there a snake on the loose and where has it gone? Someone needs to catch it."
But neighbour Jermaine Hall said: "People are making out like it's some raving cobra on the loose.
"But what's it going to do - come up to my flat?"
Snake experts had played down fears that the snake was definitely the deadly coral.
Mick Powell, who has more than 40 years' experience of looking after snakes and is chairman of the British Reptile and Amphibian Society in Barking, said: "There is an easy way of telling if a snake is venomous by looking at its striping - the rhyme goes: red on yellow, deadly fellow. Red on black, venom lack."
Mr Powell said the snake would have been eating mice and crawling under car bonnets to keep warm while it tried to survive in the wild.
A RSPCA spokesman said the snake has been taken to a wildlife centre where it will either be claimed or rehomed.
http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/content/redbridge/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=newsIlford&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsilford&itemid=WeED08 Sep 2010 16:17:34:183
ILFORD RECORDER (UK) 03 September 10 Deadly snake seen in Ilford one month after vanishing (Jenny Coombes)
A potentially deadly snake which escaped from its owner's garden almost a month ago was spotted inside a car engine this week - but slid off again before animal rescuers could collect it.
The snake - believed by police and animal experts to be a venomous coral snake - was found when a resident of Belgrave Road, Ilford, opened her bonnet to add water to the car at around 6pm on Tuesday.
The terrified driver screamed when it reared up and quickly slammed the bonnet back down again.
Her husband said. "It was very frightening for her. We knew the snake had been loose which was frightening enough, but to find it in your car and then for it to escape again is even worse. We did not sleep at all last night."
The snake was reported missing from a garden in the same road on August 4. The couple - who do not want to be identified - waited for the police but were told only the RSPCA would be able to remove it. When they arrived the snake had disappeared.
A police spokesman said that there was some confusion over the species but it was still being treated as a potentially lethal coral snake. Residents are asked to remain vigilant and call 999 if it is spotted.
http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/content/redbridge/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=newsIlford&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsilford&itemid=WeED03 Sep 2010 13:29:53:470
