Qantas Deals With Real-Life Snakes On A Plane

April 17, 2009 at 11:11 AM | by egw | 1 Comment

We wish every Friday began with a story like this: In a scene reminiscent of a not-too-distant Samuel L. Jackson movie, a Qantas plane had to be taken out of service after four baby pythons escaped from their secure location in the cargo hold.

Frighteningly, the carriers of these snakes didn't realize until two days after they landed in Melbourne from Alice Springs that one-third of the pythons were MIA. After making sure the Stinson's pythons, native to Australia, hadn't eaten their own kind, officials pulled the plane and fumigated it, causing delays and probably a number of nightmares.

Unlike in the aforementioned action movie, it sounds like the snakes got loose by accident and not as part of a nefarious plot to harm a witness taking a transatlantic flight to testify in a court case against a mean-looking thug.

But not even mean-looking thugs want their favorite animals to disappear in transit, so check up on the airline's pets policy on Pet Travel Finder so there are no unfortunate airport surprises. And PETA recommends writing "I'm a live animal!" on the outside of all kennels and transport equipment along with arrows to make sure your snakes are scaly-side-up at all times.

Related Stories:
· Escaped snakes ground Qantas plane [ABC News]
· Airline Pet Policies [Pet Travel Center]
· Traveling With Companion Animals [PETA.org]

[Photo: barfblog]

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Tags: Animals / Qantas / Snakes on a Plane / → All Tags