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Snake Travels 9,300 Miles on Plane in Woman's Shoe

Snake Travels 9,300 Miles on Plane in Woman's Shoe
Detail of a python (Rogan Ward/Reuters)

By    |   Monday, 25 February 2019 12:50 PM EST

Snake on a plane!

It wasn’t as bad as the Samuel L. Jackson 2006 movie, but a woman flying home to Scotland after an Australia vacation last week unknowingly brought a snake onto the plane in one of her shoes. It was only after Moira Boxall unpacked her luggage that she realized a python had accompanied her on the entire trip, The Guardian reported.

The non-venomous spotted python managed to survive the 9,300-mile journey to Queensland and officials were able to safely transport it from Mackay to Glasgow but not before it shed its skin in Boxall's slip-ons. Son-in-law Paul Airlie, who lives in Mackay, said Boxall first thought it was all a joke. 

"She actually thought that… 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 told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "She had woken up a few days before she left and thought she had seen a snake in her room and woke me up at 3:00 in the morning to check."

Upon her discovery, Boxall contacted Airlie who in turn called the Scottish RSPCA.

"We had to tell them it was from Australia and that it could have been a venomous snake," he told the ABC. "Luckily we found out it was a spotted python so it was fine — it could have been worse."

The discovery left Boxall reluctant to unpack the rest of her luggage in fear that another snake was hidden in her bags and Airlie said they had to get a friend to help.

"She was not at all expecting to find the snake when she was unpacking a bag when she got back to Scotland," he said.

Following the ordeal, Airlie said Boxall was reluctant to visit Australia again but he suspected she would be back, she would just "have to think about it at first."

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TheWire
Snake on a plane! It wasn't as bad as the Samuel L. Jackson 2006 movie, but a woman flying home to Scotland after an Australia vacation last week unknowingly brought a snake onto the plane in one of her shoes.
snake, plane, shoe
323
2019-50-25
Monday, 25 February 2019 12:50 PM
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