So close you can almost feel her breath: How wildlife photographer captured amazingly intimate portraits of pride of lions

By Craig Mackenzie



Puzzled: A curious young lioness gazes into the camera, below, which had been set up on a tree in the wild on a game reserve in Zimbabwe



Taking pictures of big cats is always a tricky business, but if you want really intimate shots you have to get as close to them as you dare without becoming their dinner.



That's how wildlife photographer Chris Weston snapped these amazing shots of a pride of lions while documenting big game in Zimbabwe.



He used a remote camera fixed to a tree so he could capture them in off-guard moments and even put one inside a dead carcass and propped it up as though it were alive so he could see the moment the animals attacked.



The 44-year-old from Weymouth spent six weeks gaining the lions' trust, but insisted he was 'never really' in any danger.





He added: 'There is always an element of that when working with animals, especially wild ones, but it's key to be able to read their body language and the way they communicate with you.'



Chris, who has travelled all over the world to film large mammals, wanted to capture the personality of an animal in the same way a portrait artist would with a human subject.



'Lenses change the perspective of the way we see things,' he said. 'What I like to do is show it as we see it and the standard lens is 50mm which means you have to get relatively close.



'The idea is to give the viewer an idea of the personality of that individual animal.



The lion king: The leader of the pride runs towards the Chris Weston's camera. He had spent six weeks gaining the trust of the big cats





'In much the same way as you would take a person's portrait, you can't be standing half a mile away with a long lens. You have to get close and establish some kind of relationship.'



Chris spends a long time building a relationship with his subjects and has returned to shoot this pride in the Ngamo Game Reserve on several occasions over the past five years.



'Lions are generally wary of humans but people would be surprised at how non-aggressive they are,' he said.







Attack: A camera hidden in a carcass captures the moment just before two of the animals swoop





'What's surprising is that when you spend a lot of time with the lions you begin to get a sense of their individual characteristics.



'It's very much like making friends with an animal - and you can only do that when you are relatively close to them.'



After coming up with the idea to put the camera in the tree it took Chris about three days to get the picture he wanted.



Chris also took to the water to document the lions swimming. He said: 'Most cats don't like water so seeing them swimming was very interesting.'





source:dailymail

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Hey mum, keep the cuddles coming... The baby orangutan and his mother in a very human show of affection

By Daily Mail Reporter



Like mother, like son: The orangutans cuddle up cheek to cheek, the spiky-haired baby gripping Mum's finger with his tiny hand



Like mother, like son: The orangutans cuddle up cheek to cheek, the spiky-haired baby gripping Mum's finger with his tiny hand



The sweetest moment came as the youngster lovingly stroked his mother on her head as she closed her eyes, their faces barely an inch apart.





Puckering up: Baby looks ready for a kiss





They also cuddled cheek to cheek, the baby’s little hand wrapped tightly round his mother’s finger.





The sweetest moment came as the youngster lovingly stroked his mother on her head as she closed her eyes, their faces barely an inch apart.



They also cuddled cheek to cheek, the baby’s little hand wrapped tightly round his mother’s finger.





Tender touch: He stretches out a long arm to stroke his mother on the head





And the bigger animal also held up her son by his arms and then lay back to let him practise walking on her chest.



No wonder he gave her such an adoring look and seemed to pucker up his lips for a kiss.



These pictures were taken by Olga Dmitrieva, who was given unrestricted access to the two orangutan families living at Moscow Zoo.



She said: ‘Orangutan parents are very tender, especially mothers. Sometimes I think we could learn from them about how to care for our kids.’



Hands up: Help with walking practice





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The game's up: Yvonne the runaway cow finally caught after 98 days on the run from abattoir

By Allan Hall and Katy Winter





Moo-dy: Yvonne is caught and pulled by a tractor at a grazing land near Stefanskirchen, Germany





Dubbed the Scarlet Pimpernel of the bovine world, Yvonne the cow managed to escape from her farm moments before she was due for a trip to the abattoir.



She longed for bovine contact after 98 days on the hoof where she became nocturnal after taking up with a herd of deer.



The loneliness brought Yvonne back from the wild and into the clutches of man.



Konrad Gutmann, 46, claimed the £9,500 reward offered up by a German newspaper for Yvonne's capture when she wandered into his meadows to try to befriend his cows.





Yvonne had previously evaded all attempts at capture after she broke out of a farmyard in Zangberg, Germany on May 24th shortly before she was due to be slaughtered.



Farmer Konrad said; 'It was just luck really. I was out taking a tour of my electric fence with my daughter Melanie at about 6.00pm when I saw Yvonne on the other side staring at the young cows. She seemed lonely.'



'She went back into the woods when she saw us. I got up behind her and my daughter gathered the cows in one area of the field.' Eventually he managed to herd Yvonne into the field.



'But she was very nervous,' he added. 'You could see the stress of the past days and weeks had taken its toll on her.'



Officials from the Gut Aiderbichl animal sanctuary, which purchased Yvonne when she was on the run to offer her a happy life free from the threat of being turned into beefburgers, identified her from the number pinned into her ear.



In the early days of her great escape local authorities near Mühldorf in Bavaria gave hunters the right to shoot her because she posed a danger to traffic on nearby busy roads. That order was rescinded after pressure from animal rights protesters.



An udder chance: Runaway cow Yvonne is loaded onto a truck following two anesthesia shots





After she joined the other cows she began to munch contentedly on animal feed and grass.



She was tranquilised on Friday morning and transported to the Gut Aiderbichl sanctuary at Deggendorf where she will spend her days with her sister Waltraud and her son Frieslt.



Flashback: Yvonne grazing before her escape in the farm in Zangberg near Muehldorf, Germany





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Who am I, mum? Baby monkey born in June still hasn’t been named by zookeepers… because they can’t tell its sex

By Daily Mail Reporter





The unnamed L'Hoest's monkey: Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo still don't know whether it's a boy or a girl, despite the fact it was born in June





With tiny clasped fingers and large, searching eyes, this baby monkey may have reason to look a little troubled.



Despite being born at the end of June, keepers at Edinburgh Zoo still don’t know whether it’s a male or a female.



As its gender is unknown, the orange-eye baby L’Hoest’s monkey hasn’t yet been given a name.





Animal team leader at the zoo, Lorna Hughes, said the tiny primate has proved to be a big hit with visitors.



She said the baby had been born to mum Tumbili, who was flown to the zoo from San Diego eight months ago, and dad Kizizi.



‘Every birth is special, but this one has been really exciting,’ said Lorna.



‘The baby is quite a confident little one. It comes right up to the window to have a look at visitors.



The baby is still dependent on mum's milk, but will soon learn to peel fruit





‘We’ll check to see if it is a baby boy or a baby girl when it is about three months old, once the baby has started venturing away from mum a bit more. Once we know, we’ll be able to choose a name.’



She added: ‘Tumbili is a great mum, knowing just what to do and being very caring and protective.’



Currently the baby is still dependent on mum’s milk, but in the coming few weeks she will start trying new foods and will learn how to unpeel fruit.



I'm hanging in there mum! The baby clings to mother Tumbili, who arrived at Edinburgh Zoo eight months ago





In the wild L’hoest’s monkeys live in the tropical forests of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, spending most of their time on the forest floor.



Their diet is made up mostly of fruit, leaves, mushrooms and sometimes insects and lizards. They live in social groups usually made up of one dominant male and several related females.



Deforestation and hunting means L’hoest’s monkeys are facing a high risk of extinction in the wild and they are marked as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.





Edinburgh Zoo





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Trip to the Zhou: Remains of horses and chariots unearthed from tomb dating back to 3,000-year-old Chinese dynasty

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



Watering the horses: A staff member sprays water to maintain the humidity of an ancient horse and chariot pit unearthed in Luoyang, China. The main pit has a five chariots and 12 horses buring almost 3,000 years ago



It could have been as early as 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ that these horses were moved on to greener pastures - and no-one has laid eyes on them until now.



Archaeologists have painstakingly uncovered the almost-3,000-year-old remains of horses and wooden chariot in a Zhou Dynasty tomb in Luoyang, Henan Province, China.



The completed excavation unearthed four horse-and-chariot pits, dating back to as far as 770BC.





Exciting find: Archaeologists say this is the most complete find of any tomb of its era. The wooden chariots have completely rotted away, with only the ash residue remaining





The pits have well-preserved evidence of bronzeware and ceramics from the Early Western Zhou dynasty.



Though a far smaller tomb than the famous 'terracotta army' found in 1974 in the Lintong District, this find has been undisturbed while buried - not suffering the ravages of grave robbers.



Archaeologists believe that the tomb belongs to an official of some renown during the dynasty - pottery, metal weaponwry and inscriptions are consisted with a man of mid-level importance.





Funeral procession: The main pit contains five chariots and 12 horses. Archaeologists say that the animals were not entombed alive





Apart from the artifacts themselves, the tomb is an exciting discovery for historians, as it provides unquestionable insights into the funeral customs in the early Western Zhou dynasty.



The unearthed tomb is a vertical earthen pit tomb, which is very common in that period.



Because of the ancient nature of the site, the traditionally wooden coffin and body within have long-since carbonised.



But the most valuable discovery by far is the complete set of chariots and horses of all different shapes and sizes.





Protected from theft: While other tombs in the region have been stripped of their contents, the Luoyang tomb includes pottery, copper weaponry, jade and other objects





Animal lovers can at least breathe a small sigh of relief - archaeologists say the side-lying nature of the horse remains show that the animals were slaughtered before burial, and not entombed alive.



At the time of this official''s death, large-scale irrigation projects were being instituted across China, and the nation's writing system was being further developed.



It was also the time of the great Chinese philosophers of antiquity, including Confucius, Mencius, and Zhuangzi.



Many nearby tombs have fragments of the Luoyang find, but most have been emptied of their funeral relics by thieves.





Historical riches: Apart from the physical objects uncovered in the tomb, historians now have a richer understanding of funeral rites and customs of the Zhou dynasty



source: dailymail

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Ready, steady, goose! Spectacular sight as 1.3MILLION birds take flight at the same time - creating an instant migration

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



Snow goose: The bird is known for its white plumage and black wingtips. It is also known as the blue goose because of a blue-grey variation of its colour. The white and blue 'morphs' of the species interbreed and can create offspring of either colour



Have a gander at this amazing image - taken as 1.3million geese spectacularly take flight all at once - creating the illusion it is snowing.



The stunning display of nature was captured by photographer Mike Hollingshead as he spent 22 days observing the huge gaggle at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, in northwestern Missouri, this spring.



In one image, every inch of the landscape as far as the eye can see is packed with the white and grey birds. Another shows the sky blackened by the geese taking flight as they return to their natural summer breeding ground of central Canada.





Artificial horizon: Photographer Mike Hollingshead captures the amazing moment when up to 1.3million snow geese continue their migration at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, in northwestern Missouri





The amazing spectacle occurs when gaggles of Snow Geese converge on the Central Flyway migration route - with the national park acting as an important stopover on the 70-hour, 2,500-mile flight.



Mr Hollingshead, 35, from Blair, Nebraska, quit his job at a factory in 2004 to take up storm chasing - where photographers follow large supercells that can form destructive tornadoes.





Don't bother counting: An estimated 1.3million snow geese gather at the reserve, which is a former hunting ground and now an important stop-over during their 2,500-mile flight to their breeding grounds in Canada





But he takes time out each spring to capture a storm of a different kind - the majestic migration of these wonderful birds.



He said: 'At times it can definitely look like there is a snow shower on the horizon. Your brain can be tricked into seeing nothing but the patterns of the birds flying because it can't see anything else.



source: dailymail

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Grandmother with fox phobia wakes up to find cub sitting on her CHEST

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



Shock: Mrs Small on the bed where she came face to face with the intrepid fox



One moment she was fast asleep, the next she was awake with the realisation that an animal was sitting on her chest and clawing at her face.



Mary Small, 68, at first thought it was a visiting cat that had climbed on to her duvet.



But then she saw that the animal peering inquisitively down at her was a fox. The grandmother screamed and leapt from her bed.





Brazen: This picture was taken seconds after the fox leapt off Mary Small's bed. She had awoken with the creature clawing at her face





The intruder, a cub, fled and was eventually chased out of the house by her husband Tony.



The incident comes after a number of fox attacks and is just the latest example of how the animals are losing their fear of humans.



Last June, nine-month-old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis were mauled in their cot in East London.



Shortly afterwards, Jake Jermy, three, was bitten on the arm at a playgroup party in Brighton and earlier this year an ambulance worker in Worthing, West Sussex told how a fox entered her house through the cat flap and bit off the end of her finger.





Terror: Mrs Small said she screamed and 'had never moved so fast' when she woke to find a fox in her room





Mrs Small, a magistrate, said yesterday: ‘I thought it was a cat at first when I felt it clawing at my face. But when I opened my eyes and saw this fox, I was pretty shaken up to say the least.



‘Obviously things look bigger when they are closer to you, so it looked enormous when I came around.



‘I just leapt from the covers and screamed, I’ve never moved so quickly. The scariest thing was it just appeared to be so fearless.’



Mrs Small said she had been terrified by the incident at their Victorian property in Bournville, Birmingham.





Intruder: The fox may have got into the house in Bournville, Birmingham when Mr Small went outside to smoke his pipe. The couple disinfected the whole house as they were worried about diseases from the animal





She added: ‘Tony’s first instinct was to grab his camera rather than see if I was OK. He got a good picture of the fox in our upstairs study.



‘You can see it peeping out from behind the leather chair, it was a cheeky so and so.



Even when we finally got it out of the house, it was pawing at the windows to come back in.











The RSPCA said fox attacks on humans were extremely rare.



A spokesman added: ‘Foxes are opportunists, searching for and defending areas with suitable food and shelter. They learn to trust people who are not causing them harm.’



source: dailymail

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Look away if you scare easily: New Zealand taxidermist uses roadkill to create furry freaks that are the STUFF of nightmares

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



Bare-faced cheek: Andrew Lancaster has brazenly put a plastic doll's face on a possum's body, completing the freakish artwork with a forked tongue flicking from the doll's mouth



During the day, Andrew Lancaster is a mild-mannered marina caretaker, a British ex-pat living happily in New Zealand. It's only when he begins to think about his hobby that things start getting weird.



That's because, in his spare time, the 57-year-old likes to dismember and reassemble the bodies of dead animals to create nightmarish chimera-like creatures.



It sounds gruesome, and it is, but self-trained taxidermist Mr Lancaster seems unperturbed by the notion that people may think he's funny in the head.





Duck a l'wrong: What starts off as a rabbit ends up as a duck in another of Lancaster's oddball creations. Surprisingly, he has a devoted following and sells many of his works online





Indeed, he is proud of many of his creations, which include: a possum with a doll's face and a forked tongue; a rabbit with the head of a duck; a goldfish with the head of a blackbird; and a possum with wings and devil horns.



Naturally, his art has some reaching for their wallets, and other reaching for sick bags.



The taxidermist told New Zealand website Stuff: 'Some people call me sick and some think it’s pretty good.'







Hellish vision: This winged creature, with fangs and horns, is the sort of thing that you would expect to find among Satan's minions... rather than in a suburban back garden in New Zealand





He said he had been dabbling in strange hybrid creations for the past two years, having taken up taxidermy after moving from England to New Zealand 14 years ago.



He said: 'I saw heaps of dead things on the side of the road and I thought it was a waste. When I’m driving along the road and see something I pull up and go back for it. There are probably a few people wondering what I’m doing.'





Pigs really can fly: The sty's no longer the limit for this porker, thanks to a pair of bird wings





Mr Lancaster insists that all the animals he re-arranges are already dead when he gets his hands on them, and that he would never intentionally kill an animal for his art.



For example, the goldfish used in a piece with a blackbird's head literally jumped out of the pond in Mr Lancaster's garden and promptly presented itself as raw material - according to Mr Lancaster.





Taxidermist extraordinaire: Mr Lancaster says of his work: 'Some people call me sick and some think it¿s pretty good'





Taxidermy is not for everyone, and Mr Lancaster is pretty matter-of-fact when it comes to his methods of preparation. He says he leaves the carcasses on top of his boiler to dry, and then places them in the freezer 'under the ice cream and vegetables'.



He makes his own body moulds - the inside structure that gives the lifeless bodies their shape - out of straw, cotton and wire.





Flying fish: The head of a blackbird has been stuck on the body of a goldfish. If it's all too much to take in, concentrate instead on the pretty rainbow in the background





He said: 'You make an incision from the bottom of the chest, down between the legs and you have to literally just turn it inside out... then when you put it back together it goes the other way.



'You have to get it right to look like the body that came out. I guess it’s just like putting a rag doll together.'



Perhaps unsurprisingly, his wife doesn't allow him to hang on to his creations. A little more surprisingly, however, he has managed to sell his works online and his Facebook site Andrew Lancaster Taxidermy Creations has 241 members.





Oh dear! An earless possum gets the Lancaster treatment, this time getting a couple of vampire's fangs and the body of a chicken. Understandably, Mrs Lancaster doesn't like having the artworks around the house





Not best pleased: This possum appears a little annoyed about having a magpie's wings attached to its body. Mr Lancaster says his hybrids are 'like putting a rag doll together'



source: dailymail

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Time for a bear hug: Wrestling brown grizzlies square off in battle for best fishing spot

By Chris Parsons



When you're roaming next to a river with the largest concentration of brown bears in the world, it can be difficult finding yourself a square meal.



So when these two young grizzlies started to argue over a particularly good fishing spot on the McNeil River on the Alaskan Peninsula, the scrap quickly became heated.



The two Alaskan brown bears were seen rearing up in a show of strength in remarkable wildlife images captured by photographer Rick Sheremeta.





Out of my way: The young bears regularly square off against each other in battles for territory due to their high numbers in Alaska





The bears can be seen squaring up to each other on their back legs before wrestling in the river and continuing their scrap in the watery depths.



The McNeil River Game Sanctuary, 100 miles west of Homer, Alaska, attracts almost 150 bears in the summer, with as many as 74 observed at one time.



Photographer Rick said: 'The McNeil River is home to the largest concentration of brown bears in the world thanks to the abundance of salmon at the waterfall.



'But with so many bears there it's inevitable that there will be battles for territory.





Face-off: There can be as many as 150 Alaskan brown bears along the McNeil River during the height of summer





'They will usually have a face-off until one backs off submissively. It is quite a sight to behold and could almost be viewed as a strange sort of dance.'



Salmon are slowed in their movements by the falls so congregate there during their upstream migration to spawning grounds.



Since there are few rivers in the area with similar fishing sites, bears congregate annually at the river for an easy meal.





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Don't paws for breath! Podgy pooch put through her paces at fat camp to help her find a family

By DAMIEN GAYLE



Hot under the collar: Gloria the overweight Australian kelpie is put through her paces at doggy boot camp



There's no time to paws for breath for this podgy pooch.



Four-year-old Gloria should be out herding sheep, but instead she's being worked like a dog at a boot camp for heavyweight hounds.



The Australian kelpie is learning some new fight-fighting tricks to lose some weight before being put up for adoption.



Alongside the usual commands of 'sit' and 'stay', she has now learned a host of others, including 'fetch that dumbbell' and 'lift those legs'.





Paws for thought: Gloria prepares to take on an army-style assault course





She used to be a working dog, but Gloria has had some ruff breaks and ended up being abandoned.



To make matters worse, she has also been dogged by weight problems which have made it more difficult to find a family to take her on.



Now she's being put through her paces by fitness trainer Julie 'Hoffy' Hoffman, who hopes the workouts will give Gloria a new leash on life.





Barking mad: Gloria does press ups with her personal trainer Julie 'Hoffy' Hoffman





Rather than just donate money to Australian Working Dog Rescue, animal-loving Ms Hoffman decided to offer her services the charity.



She had initially planned to raffle a 10-session voucher to raise funds for the group.



'But when I heard about Gloria, I signed her up and hope to get her down from what is basically twice her ideal weight,' Ms Hoffman said.



'I thought I could do more by helping Gloria get fit so she looks more adoptable.'





Go mutts! Gloria takes a well-earned rest, surrounded by her friends from the boot camp team



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Monkey-nomics: Scientists claim capuchins 'understand using money' - and can even sniff out a bargain

By Chris Parsons





One please: A capuchin monkey appears to hand over 'currency' in return for a food item during the Yale University experiment





Researchers claim to have conducted experiments showing that monkeys can be taught how to spend money and even know how to find a bargain.



Scientists from Yale University carried out a series of tests with capuchin monkeys by giving them coin-like tokens to see if they would trade them for food items.



Academics discovered that the animals held on to the tokens as though they valued them, as well as learning how to exchange them for pieces of fruit and waiting during transactions.



Bargain hunters: The research also showed how capuchins appeared to go for the cheaper food item when offered





The group of capuchin monkeys even appeared to grasp the concept of 'bargain hunting' by flocking to lower-priced pieces of fruit, according to the study.



In research published this month in 'Mental Floss' magazine, Professor Laurie Santos, from Yale University Department of Psychology, outlined how capuchin monkeys were given a 'wallet' of 12 aluminium coin-like tokens.



The creatures were then given the option of two food options, in exchange for a food token.



The tests showed that the capuchins, including the alpha male of the group Felix, weighed up the options of both food items before obediently handing over a token in exchange for a piece of orange.



Professor Santos said the monkey's behaviour showed how the capuchins can be seen 'contemplating, thinking about what they're going to buy'.



It is thought that the monkeys behaviour differs from other animals who can also be taught to swap one item for another if there is a chance of obtaining food.



The research in Mental Floss described how the capuchins weighed up their options as 'cautious, observant shoppers', a trait previously only seen in humans.



Yale economist Keith Chen, who worked with Professor Santos, told the publication: 'We started investigating whether or not we could introduce them to a basic market economy.



'I’m not even sure we had a good idea of how it would work. But if we could, I knew there were a dozen experiments that people in the economics world would be interested in.'



Describing the process where monkeys appeared to 'buy' food, Professor Santos added: 'When you watch it, it looks like they’re contemplating, thinking about what they’re going to buy.



'What separates these capuchins from the scores of animals who have been trained to perform complex behaviors in exchange for food is the option presented by that second researcher.'



'The critical aspect of money is that it represents a choice. A coin is fundamentally different than, say, pressing a lever.'



Researchers began to experiment further by changing the prices in the 'Monkey Market' they had created.Professor Santos described how the capuchins were presented with two equally appealing food options - a Jell-o cube and an apple slice - but with the apple half the price of the Jell-o.



Transaction: A series of pictures during the Yale research shows a monkey in the 'Monkey Market' exchanging one of his coin-like tokens for food



The research, led by Professor Laurie Santos, was said to show that monkey were 'cautious, observant shoppers'





The capuchin monkeys were said to have opted on the majority of occasions for the cheaper food option - thereby reacting to a price shift.



Yale researchers claimed the animals also displayed the same tendency to wrecklessly spend savings as humans.



professor Santos added: 'One of the things we never saw in the Monkey Market was savings—just like with our own species. They always just spent all their cash at once.'





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Mother left rattled after opening a cupboard to find 5ft SNAKE shaking its tail

By Edward Knight





Terrifying: The 5ft snake was hiding in the darkness of the understairs cupboard and was startled by Mrs Perry opening the door





A mother-of-one was given a shock when she opened a cupboard and found a huge 5ft snake rattling its tail.



Shocked Louise Perry, 49, discovered the black rat snake after she pulled the understairs cupboard door open for a TV repair man.



The mother-of-one was stunned to find the snake staring at her before it slithered away from the light.



Terrified: Louise Perry, 49, discovered the black rat snake in an understairs cupboard where it hid away from light





Miss Perry said: 'The cable TV man wanted a power socket so I opened the door and there was a massive black snake just sitting there.



'It quickly slid away to the back of the cupboard and I screamed 'I've got a snake in the house'.



'I shut the door and freaked out completely. I was shaking." Miss Perry slammed the door shut and the Virgin Media employee called the police who alerted the RSPCA.



When the animal rescue charity worker arrived at the terraced house she was not prepared to deal with such a big snake and had to call for back-up.



Miss Perry, from Portsmouth, Hants, added: "The woman from the RSPCA had a look in the cupboard and when she saw it she was scared herself.



The snake is now being cared for at the RSPCA's Stubbington Ark animal shelter in Stubbington, Hants where it will find a new home if it is not claimed





'She said she had never seen a snake so big and phoned her colleague to come along and help out.



'At one point it rattled its tail and that was when I was absolutely petrified - it must have been angry.



'I told my 14-year-old daughter, Billie, and she stayed in her room the whole time.



'I rang my husband and he said it must be a slow worm - I told him 'that's no slow worm'.



'A snake expert came and was able to deal with it, but it took a good couple of hours.



'He put it in a glass tank and I couldn't even look at it - it was horrid.



'I've got no idea how it got there - we've heard a rumour that a neighbour may have lost a snake recently, maybe it's theirs.' She added: 'I didn't think I had an issue with snakes but when it was here I was so frightened.



'Now when I open cupboards I'm actually nervous and have to double check before opening the door the whole way.'



Unexpected: When the animal rescue charity worker arrived at the terraced house she was not prepared to deal with such a big snake and had to call for back-up.





The black rat snake is most commonly found in America. It has a painful bite and the snake's saliva can contain bacteria which can cause infection.



The snake preys on mice, rats, squirrels and birds, as well as bird eggs, and can live up to 21 years.



It is now being cared for at the RSPCA's Stubbington Ark animal shelter in Stubbington, Hants.



Manager of the Ark Mike Ward said: 'It is an exotic species which is fairly common to be kept as a pet.



'It is not venomous and seems fairly healthy. It needs people who know how to keep snakes in the right type of equipment and the right type of environment.



'We are looking after it for now but if no-one comes forward to claim it we will pass it on to a reptile rescue company who can make sure it finds a new home.'





source:dailymail

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