Emergency services spring into action to remove three-metre-long venomous snake from car in Spain's Valencia region

Local Police officers were faced with an interesting operation on Saturday, 24 May, when a resident of the Botánicos neighbourhood in the Valencia region of Spain reported that there was a snake inside the engine of his car. The alert was raised at 4.30pm and the operation, in which the police collaborated with the fire brigade, took around two hours, as the snake was moving around inside the vehicle, parts of which had to be dismantled.

The car had been parked inside the garage for about a week when the owner realised what had happened. The reptile had found a refuge in the engine compartment, as its warmth offered the perfect conditions.

Officers from the city's environmental unit, as well as a patrol responsible for monitoring the Patraix area were mobilised to the scene, where it became clear that help from the fire brigade would also be necessary.

While the delicate rescue operation was under way, the snake was moving around inside the engine compartment, which prompted the removal of some of its parts. It finally took the emergency services about two hours to retrieve the snake from behind the front headlight of the vehicle.

Once the snake was safely recovered, it was taken to the Valencia city council's centre for birds, urban avifauna and exotic species.

The snake - a Montpellier species - was three metres long. This species is a venomous rear-fanged snake (opisthoglyphous), with its venom-injecting teeth located at the back of the mouth, but it is generally not dangerous to humans, only small animals.

After recovering from the shock, the owner of the vehicle told police officers that he had not driven the car for about a week. His last trip had been to his holiday home in the riverside town of Montserrat. It is still unknown whether the snake entered the car there. It's also possible that a resident of the Botánicos is looking for their pet snake.

Saturday was clearly the day for snake discoveries, as another similar specimen was also found located inside the engine of a car in the southeast of the region of Madrid. This time, it was forestry officers who took care of the rescue operation. That snake was transferred to its natural habitat.

The officers stated that, although specimens can grow quite large, they are quite harmless to humans and very beneficial for the balance of ecosystems, as they are great pest controllers in agricultural crops.