Engineers sss-ave venomous cobra found at sewage works20 November 2019
A deadly cobra that had slithered into Basingstoke Sewage Works has been rescued by engineers at Thames Water.
The metre-long snake, which appeared lethargic due to the cold weather, was spotted as workers carried out an inspection at the site in early November. One engineer carefully picked it up and put it in a bag, before the RSPCA came to take it away.
Such snakes are native to the South American tropics. They are named for the way they flatten their neck to appear bigger – but unlike true cobras cannot rise up vertically. They are aggressive venomous predators, feeding on things such as tadpoles, fish, frogs, reptiles, mammals and birds.
Sewage works manager Kenny Masters says that “some weird and wonderful things” are often seen in the sewers, but a metre-long cobra slithering across the footpath “is definitely up there”.
"We don’t think it was flushed down a toilet as there's no way it would have survived – our machinery which filters out everything other than pee, poo and paper would have killed it. I can only fathom it was released or escaped,” he adds. “My technician who grabbed it is not especially fearful of snakes and just walked up, grabbed it by the head and said ‘what do you want me to do with it?' Casual as you like. Fair play to him, no one else was going near it."
RSPCA animal welfare officer Justine Hermon adds that the charity was “expecting it to be a common species”, such as a grass snake or a pet corn snake.
“As an exotic animal specialist, my colleague Phil Hamilton attended the incident and when he arrived at the sewage plant, he saw straight away this was a more unusual type of snake. He took one look at the animal and spotted the ‘hood’ on its neck, identifying it to be a false water cobra, a snake which originally comes from South America and is reported to be mildly venomous,” Hermon explains.
“We have now taken the snake to a nearby specialist facility where it will be cared for it until its owner can be tracked down or it can be rehomed. Thankfully, it is in good condition and is eating well. It is possible this snake escaped from a property in the local area.”
Last year, Basingstoke Sewage Works began producing enough energy from waste to power the whole site, following a £53m upgrade to treble its energy generation capacity. Special reactors, similar to giant pressure cookers, heat up sewage during the treatment process to help produce biogas. This is then converted into around 50 megawatt hours (Mwh) of electricity every day – enough to power the equivalent of 2,850 homes.
The owner of the snake, or anyone with information, can contact the RSPCA on 0300 123 8018.
Credit for second image: Thames Water
Adam Offord
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