Plan B Forum

A woman called in the Scottish SPCA after finding what she thought was a 5ft snake in her loft - but it turned out to be a lookalike draught excluder.

Animal rescue officer Karen Hogg arrived at the rented home in Kingswells, near Aberdeen, to find the lady "very distressed".



It turned out to be a large green and black snake-shaped draught excluder with a red felt tongue.

Officer Hogg said: "The poor lady was still very shaken."

She added: "We've rescued hundreds of snakes from properties in all sorts of unusual circumstances, so we had no reason to believe this might not be the real thing.

"I'd brought gloves and a pillow case to enable us to handle and contain the snake safely, but as soon as we spotted it we realised the equipment wouldn't be necessary.

"This call-out really made us smile and given that we deal with cruelty and neglect day in day out, it was refreshing to go to a job where the 'animal' was completely unharmed."

The draught excluder - named Sid - is now at the Scottish SPCA's Aberdeen Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-n ... d-17596214

Police in Nottinghamshire have said they will be discussing compensation for a car window smashed after officers tried to "save" a toy, stuffed dog.

Officers received a call from a concerned passer-by who reported seeing a dog left on the back seat of car parked on Church Lane in Mansfield.



The police officers smashed a window in the Mercedes and discovered it was, in fact, a toy dog.

The toy's owner, Gordon Williams, 80, said police had done the right thing.

"I know Little Willy is quite realistic and if they weren't sure about it, they did a good thing as we don't want any more dogs dying in the heat of a car," said Mr Williams.

Gordon Williams Mr Williams said Little Willy would be staying at home from now on

He said it cost £180 to repair the driver's side window and Nottinghamshire Police said they were discussing the costs with Mr Williams.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-no ... e-17590000

Sean wrote:Actroos is across when said with a Scottish accent.

A pilot in the Northern Territory has been forced to turn his plane around after a snake slithered from his dashboard.

Braden Blennerhassett with Air Frontier was flying freight to the remote town of Peppimenarti in the Northern Territory when he spotted the snake coming out of his dashboard.

Air Frontier director Geoffrey Hunt said Mr Blennerhassett called air traffic controllers on Tuesday to alert them to the snake.

"He said, 'We've got a snake on board,'" Mr Hunt said.

Mr Hunt said the pilot had trouble communicating with the control tower.

"The snake popped its head out near the transmit button that he needed to press to talk to the tower," he said.

He was told to return to Darwin and a snake handler was organised to meet Mr Blennerhassett, but the reptile was not found.

"We have got another chap here who is an aircraft engineer and a snake handler and he had a look and he couldn't find it," Mr Hunt said.

He said the plan now was to try to trap the snake, using a live mouse in a cage as bait.

"You put it into a box with a hole in it, and the snake goes into the box to get the mouse and it stays in there trying to get it," he said.

The aircraft has been grounded until the snake is found.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/pilot-sh ... z1r8m1qpqz