Snake rescue

Date published: 30/07/2010

Refuse staff are used to finding all sorts in Tameside’s bins but one collection proved to be a particularly slippery encounter.

The Waste Services Department received a call from one of its drivers stating that residents had started to gather as one of them had seen a snake go under a bin and hide.

Supervisor Darren Moran boldly went out to George Street, Denton, not knowing quite what he was going to find. Thankfully it was just a 2.5ft long corn snake.

Darren picked up the snake and brought it back to the depot where he tried, initially without success, to find someone who knew about snakes to take it off his hands.

He eventually took it home in a lunch box, and after making more calls, finally found a reptile-friendly family who already owned a bearded dragon and had the correct equipment to provide a suitable home for the snake.

Darren said: “When we first got a call to say there was a snake under a bin I wasn’t sure whether it was going to be a six foot venomous killer or something a little more manageable.

“Thankfully it turned out to be a corn snake – which fortunately was just the right fit for my plastic lunch box as I had no where else to put it until we eventually found someone who could care for it.

“We’re used to dealing with all sorts here but collecting a snake from a bin was definitely a first for me. I’m just glad we were able to find it a suitable home.”

Tameside Council Executive Member for Environmental Services Cllr Catherine Piddington said: “You could say that rescuing a snake and having to take it home in a lunch box was beyond the call of duty but this is yet another example of our hard working waste staff going that extra mile.”