Slippery customer nabbed

A RUNAWAY snake spent a night in a Garda station after a late-night tangle with college students.

The four-foot orange and brown non-venomous reptile was found slithering in the back garden of a house on Cork’s Magazine Road by a female college student just before 10pm on Thursday night. She contacted Bishopstown Garda Station who dispatched their best snake wranglers — gardas Peter Nolan, Brendan Hanafin and Margaret Ryan. They found the suspect in tall grass towards the rear of the garden. But a Garda spokesman said it resisted arrest and didn’t want to leave. “He was a real slippery customer, long and thin. It took the three of them to bring him in,” the spokesman said.

The gardaí placed it in a bag and transported it back to the garda station where it spent the night in an outhouse. It was not placed under arrest.

It was taken to Gilabbey Veterinary Clinic yesterday where it was identified as a harmless corn snake.

It is thought the reptile, which is native to North America, may be a house pet that managed to escape.

It was rehoused last night by a warden from Fota Wildlife Park.