Pythons escape from container on Qantas aircraft

www.qantas.com.au

A Qantas plane was grounded when it was discovered that four baby pythons had escaped from a container that had been loaded into the aircraft’s hold.

The snakes were quite small, measuring only six inches long, and were among 12 Stimson’s pythons that were being transported from Alice Springs to Melbourne.

It was initially thought that the other snakes may have eaten the baby pythons, but that theory was rejected when the remaining snakes were weighed on arrival.

Passengers had to be transferred to another plane, as the jet was fumigated. The bodies of the snakes were not found.

“They’re not endangered so a decision was made to fumigate…if these snakes turn up they will be very much dead snakes,” said David Epstein, speaking on behalf of Qantas.

It was not known how the snakes were able to escape from their container. They can grow to one metre in length when mature.

The container in which the reptiles were being transported consisted of a bag that was inside a foam box with air holes.

On Wednesday, the plane was returned to passenger service.

Thanks to news.bbc.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.qantas.com.au