On a routine day, Neville Linton, 63, went grocery shopping. He did, however, discover a “frightening” surprise in a bunch of broccoli. He had gone to an Aldi in West Midlands, England, as was his custom. But a few days later, while cooking, he opened the bag to find a snake cuddled within the veggie. It’s every ophidiophobic’s worst nightmare. Unfortunately, Linton was terrified of snakes.
Linton, who works in industrial cleaning, was rescued by his relatives, who leapt in and grabbed the snake. “It was pretty frightening,” one grandfather said. I’m not good around snakes. It’s a good thing I didn’t just leave the broccoli out in the kitchen, otherwise it would have spread throughout the house. Because we have two fragile people living here, that would have been a significant danger for us.”
After discovering the reptile, he summoned his sister, Ann-Marie Tenkanemin, 57, who identified it as a snake. The pair captured the lizard in a plastic container and returned it to Aldi. “I thought she was joking at first,” Linton said of Tenkanemin’s identification of the snake, “but I backed off when I saw it move.” “The guy in the shop was terrified as well.”
Although he had been granted some compensation, Linton believes the case warranted more because the snake posed a risk to his vulnerable relatives, including his crippled son and mother-in-law. “It’s just not good enough — the implications for us if it had [gotten] out in the house are huge,” he explained. “There’s also the emotional impact of being afraid of snakes.”
“Our supplier has never had a complaint of this nature and has robust processes in place to prevent such issues from occurring,” an Aldi representative said. We are reviewing this isolated event and have apologized to Mr. Linton for not upholding our normal high standards.”A specialist from the Dudley Zoo identified the reptile as a baby ladder snake, according to Linton’s son, Donovan, 41. Although they appear frightening and can administer a painful bite, they are not venomous.
They can be found in many countries of Europe, including Spain, Portugal, and sections of Italy and France. Hedges, woodlands, vineyards, rodent burrows, hollow trees, orchards, and rocks are ideal temperate environments for them. Ladder snakes are typically solitary, aggressive, and defensive. They repel predators by snapping their sharp fangs and emitting a terrible odor. Despite being carnivores, they avoid humans.
Instead, they eat rodents such as mice and rabbits, as well as birds, spiders, lizards, and insects. The broccoli-invading reptile has been relocated to the Dudley Zoo.
Herpetologist Dr. Steven J. R. Allain, on the other hand, recognizes it as a viperine water snake, which is thankfully less deadly. “Having reviewed the [actual] photo of the snake in the broccoli, I am not sure the zoo identified the species correctly,” Allain remarked.
“The snake, in my expert opinion, is a viperine water snake (Natrix maura), a harmless fish-eating species found throughout southwestern Europe and northern Africa.”He speculates on how it could have slithered inside a broccoli. “Given that the Mediterranean region provides a large portion of the food grown and imported into the United Kingdom, it is not surprising to find a species from this region turning up in some vegetables likely grown there.” The snake was most likely travelling through the field at the time, before being swept up by agricultural machinery and sought sanctuary within the broccoli, in my opinion.”