A passenger onboard a United Airlines flight found a snake underfoot after arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport, according to News12.
The passenger allegedly found the garter snake on Flight 2038 from Tampa after the plane landed on the runway. The flight had landed in Newark at about 1:15 p.m. Monday, News12 reported, citing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. (Plane Rerouted After Snake Found On Board)
As the plane drove on the runway, some passengers in business class screamed and lifted their feet off the floor, a passenger said, according to the outlet.
But was it a Boeing Constrictor?
Snake on a plane: Newark airport authorities remove reptile https://t.co/A9j4V1BW4r
— George FKN StroumbouloPHÒulos 🐺 (@strombo) October 18, 2022
Port Authority police officers entered the plane and removed the snake, a Port Authority spokesperson said, according to News12. No one was injured.
Garter snakes, often mistakenly referred to “garden snakes,” are nonvenomous and usually live in gardens where they kill pests, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NC Wildlife). Their prey includes worms, frogs, toads, salamanders, and birds and small mammals, though the latter two are more rare.
They average three to four feet long and can be brown, reddish, black, gray or olive. They have three light stripes that resemble “garters” and run the entire length of its body on the back and sides.