Snake on a Plane: Australian python makes 9,000-mile flight in woman's shoe

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 2/25/2019, 2:29 p.m.
It's the Samuel L. Jackson sequel we've all been waiting for: A Scottish woman has survived a real-life case of …
The snake was in a shoe in Moira Boxall's suitcase.

By Rob Picheta, CNN

(CNN) -- It's the Samuel L. Jackson sequel we've all been waiting for: A Scottish woman has survived a real-life case of a snake on a plane, finding a python curled up in her shoe after a 9,000 mile flight from Australia.

Moira Boxall was shocked to discover a live spotted python in her suitcase after traveling from Queensland to Glasgow on Thursday.

The serpent had taken up residence in a shoe, and had even started shedding its skin during the lengthy journey.

The incident brings to mind the 2006 cult film "Snakes on a Plane," in which Samuel L. Jackson plays an FBI agent battling a crate-load of deadly serpents on board a flight.

But rather than putting in a call to the Oscar-nominated actor for help, Boxall rang animal protection organization the Scottish SPCA, which took the snake into quarantine.

"I responded to a call from a woman who had just returned from a holiday in Australia who had found a small snake inside her shoe in her suitcase," animal rescue officer Taylor Johnstone said in a statement sent to CNN.

"When I arrived, the snake had been contained by the caller, so I safely removed the snake from the property. Upon examination, the snake was found to be a spotted python which is not venomous," Johnstone said.

"The snake is now in quarantine at our animal rescue and re-homing centre in Edinburgh."

This isn't the first time a snake has skipped security and made its way onto an aircraft.

In 2016, a passenger filmed the terrifying moment a snake dangled down into the cabin during an Aeromexico flight from Torreon to Mexico City.

And in 2012, an EgyptAir flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a snake reportedly bit a Jordanian man who smuggled a reptile onboard.