(Newser)
‘Alex White thought he was chasing a giant worm writhing in a plastic-wrapped salad he had just brought home from a Sydney supermarket – until a snake’s tongue struck. “I was a little scared,” White recalls, according to the AP. It was a pale-headed venomous snake, which authorities say traveled 540 miles to Sydney, Australia, from a packaging factory in the Australian city of Toowoomba, wrapped in plastic with two salad heads. The supermarket’s refrigerated supply chain probably brought the cold-blooded young man into amazement until White bought the salad at an ALDI supermarket Monday night and rode his bike home with salad and snake in his backpack.
White and his partner Amelia Neate saw the snake move as soon as the salad was unpacked on the kitchen table. They also noticed that the plastic wrap was broken and that the snake could escape, so they quickly filled the reptile with salad in a plastic container for food storage. White called the rescue organization WIRES, and a snake handler caught the snake that night. Before the manipulator arrived, White said WIRES explained, “If it bites you, you have to go to the hospital very quickly.” ALDI is investigating how a snake could have found its way to a supermarket.
(Read more about snakes.)