A New Jersey couple discovered a slithery stowaway in their car grille after coming home from a wheel alignment and quickly called police for help.
The situation occurred on Sept. 14 on Oakland Avenue in the Franklin Township. Aiyana Hudson said she was panicking after discovering the snake, and her boyfriend tried to initially calm her down, ABC7 reported.
“He told me, ‘Stop — you’re acting like someone died,’ and I was like, ‘It’s a snake,’ and he’s like, ‘Let’s go look at this,’” Hudson told the outlet.
Hudson said they were initially unsure who to call to help them, so they ended up contacting the police for assistance.
“We tried getting animal control out there, and they’re like, they only deal with domesticated animals. And we’re like, oh shoot. OK. So, we’re kind of like the last resort,” Officer Lisseth Villacis told the outlet.
Body camera footage of the encounter shows officers examining the car and trying to figure how best to free the snake. They spent about 20 minutes trying to remove the reptile from the car.
The Franklin Township Police Department said officers tried to get help from animal control, but to no avail.
“We were just like, ‘OK, he’s being brave. I’m being brave. We got this. Let’s just try to take it out,’” Villacis said.
The snake was identified as a 3-foot ball python. No one is sure how the snake ended up in the car. The python was moved to an animal shelter and is expected to be available for adoption, according to the report.
“I was just really happy that it didn’t, like, pop its head through the AC vent when I was driving or come in through the steering wheel,” Hudson said. “I want to let you know my car would have been lit on fire, and we’d be calling the fire department at that point.”
