A person who went to the store to buy food came back with a snake. He didn’t know it until the snake started eating his food.
Neville Linton, 63, got a bag of broccoli from an Aldi store in Stourbridge, England, last month. He put it in his fridge and didn’t take it out until three days later, when he was making a meal.
But as soon as he took the broccoli out of the package, the man saw the surprise visitor. Keep reading to find out what happened, and don’t miss our interview with Dr. Steven J. Allain, also known as “The pop-punk Herpetologist,” about it.
A snake that was looking around in a vegetable field in the southwest of Europe was caught, packed up, and sent to a British grocery store.
It was picked up by 63-year-old Neville Linton along with a bag of veggies, and he took the snake home without thinking.
Neville, who cleans factories, couldn’t believe what he saw.
“That was pretty scary.” He said, “I’m not good with snakes.” “I’m glad I didn’t just leave the broccoli out in the kitchen; otherwise it would have been all over the house.”
“That was a very big risk for us because there are two weak people living here.”
He called his sister Ann-Marie Tenkanemin for help when he noticed the thing wasn’t a caterpillar. She told him it was a snake.
The two put it in a tub and went back to the Dudley Road Aldi shop where Neville bought it.
“At first I thought she was joking, but when I saw it move, I backed off.” “Even the guy in the shop was pretty scared,” he said.
Animal experts at a nearby zoo said the snake was a young ladder snake, but herpetologist Dr. Steven J. R. Allain thinks it might be a viperine water snake.
The animal was taken to the Dudley Zoo, where the staff thinks it is a young ladder snake. We talked to Dr. Steven J. Allain about this, though, and he doesn’t agree.
“After looking at the real picture of the snake in the broccoli, I’m not sure the zoo got the species right,” Allain said. “The snake looks like a viperine water snake (Natrix maura), which is a harmless species that eats fish and lives in southwestern Europe and northern Africa.”
Allain graduated from Anglia Ruskin University with a degree in biology. He then went on to get a Master’s degree from Imperial College London and is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Kent. His current study is mostly about the population ecology of the barred grass snake (Natrix helvetica) and the effects of ophidiomycosis. However, he is also interested in diseases that affect amphibians and population ecology.
“Since a lot of the food grown and brought into the UK comes from the Mediterranean, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a species from that area was found in some vegetables that were probably grown there.” In my view, the snake was probably moving through the field at the time. It was probably picked up by farm equipment and then went to hide in the broccoli.
It took a while to get to the UK and then to Neville’s house, but Allain said that these snakes can go a couple of months without eating. The cold fridge would have also helped keep its metabolism low, which lowers the body’s energy needs.
“However, I don’t think it would have been comfortable,” he said. “Especially how quickly the weather changed from warm in the Mediterranean to cooler, so the broccoli would stay fresh.”
Snakes that look like vipers are only dangerous to fish and frogs. People don’t bite them as a way to defend themselves—they’d rather play dead—and they aren’t thought to be poisonous to people.
Allain said, “I know this must have been a frustrating time for Neville, especially for someone who is afraid of snakes. But his response could have been better if more people knew about snakes and how to handle situations like this.” It’s not the snake’s fault that it was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We hope that its new home at Dudley Zoo will help people get over their fears of snakes.
Neville was given money, but he’s still trying to get more.
The father of three said the amount he heard wasn’t fair because his crippled son and his mother-in-law, who lives with them, are in danger.
He also said, “It’s just not good enough.” “It would have been very bad for us if it got out in the house.” Also, I’m afraid of snakes, so that has an emotional effect as well.
A spokesperson for Aldi said, “Our supplier has never had a complaint of this nature and has strong processes in place to stop such problems from happening.”
“This is a one-time thing that happened, and we’re looking into it. We’re also sorry to Mr. Linton that our usual high standards were not met.”
People had different responses after the local news reported on it.
