Holidaymaker shocked to see stowaway python in her slip-ons on return from Queensland

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

As souvenirs go, it is a unique one. A woman has returned to Scotland from a holiday in Australia to discover a stowaway snake hidden in one of her shoes.

In an incident that will confirm the worst fears of visitors to Australia, Moira Boxall unpacked her luggage after the more than 9,300-mile journey from Queensland to find the small and very much alive creature curled up in her slip-ons. It even shed its skin during its voyage in her footwear.

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The resilient reptile – later identified as a non-venomous spotted python, a breed commonly kept as a pet – travelled safely from Mackay to Glasgow, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Paul Airlie, Boxall’s son-in-law, told the ABC news network that when Boxall opened her bag and saw the animal she thought it was a toy put there as a prank.

Airlie said throughout Boxall’s visit he had deliberately tried to downplay how common snakes were in Queensland, so as not to alarm her.

After making the surprise discovery, Boxall put the shoe in the garden with a box over the top. She then called Airlie, who contacted the Scottish SPCA.

He told ABC: “She said she’s not so keen to come back and visit. But I suspect she will – she’ll have to think about it at first.”

Scottish SPCA animal rescue officer Taylor Johnstone said: “I can confirm that we removed a snake from a property in Bridge of Allan.

“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. 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.”

The snake is in quarantine at the Scottish SPCA’s animal rescue and rehoming centre in Edinburgh.

• This article was amended on 26 February 2019 to correct the reference to the Scottish SPCA, which we mistakenly called the Scottish RSPCA.