Guelph Police help remove snake in the grass
Posted May 28, 2018 12:05:59 PM.
Last Updated May 28, 2018 06:34:31 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Residents of a Guelph home were rattled this weekend after a visit from an unwanted guest.
Guelph Police received a phone call from a concerned east-end resident about an unwanted visitor. Public Information Officer Josh Frasier says it happened Sunday, around 10:20 a.m.
“The homeowners attended the front of their residence, and located what was described as a ‘large snake’ on their front lawn. At that point in time, Guelph Police contacted the Guelph Humane Society – and with their assistance, the snake was removed without any further incident.”
Frasier says this isn’t something they see every day!
“We haven’t received too many calls about unwanted snakes or unwanted animals, but as we head into the summer months – critters and animals due tend to come out of the woodwork. You don’t need to approach them – just give Guelph Police and the Guelph Humane Society a call .. and we’ll be more than happy to come out and assist.”
Meantime – Executive Director of the Guelph Humane Society, Adrienne McBride, tells us two of their officers got the ‘request for support’ from Guelph Police.
“They had identified a snake on a property – the front lawn of someone’s house – and they weren’t sure if it was supposed to be there. Our officers responded to see what they could discover, and when they got there they found a snake that was probably just over a metre long. It was brown and spotted in colour – which certainly could be a snake that could be kept as a pet.”
McBride says the weekend’s warm weather is to blame!
“Yesterday was a nice, hot, sunny day – and snakes love to bask in the sunshine! So I’m sure the snake thought the person’s front lawn was the perfect spot to get a sun tan. It turned out to be a ‘milksnake’ – and they have a particular behaviour where they mimic rattlesnakes. They don’t have a rattle or anything, they’re not venomous or poisonous – but they do pretend to scare off predators. So if anyone saw that behaviour, it would of course be alarming.”
McBride says the Humane Society took the snake into care to identify it, and give it an assessment – before releasing it back into its natural habitat.
