Story By: Michael Leidig,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

This photo showing a red eye peering out from the crack between the wall in a children’s playground turned out to belong to a rare snake after firemen were called to investigate. 

Locals reported that there was an animal inside the wall and the mystery was partially solved when they consulted with police and realised that a bright red snake had been seen in the area previously but not caught.

The incident happened in the German city of Muelheim located in the province of North Rhine-Westphalia where police had been troubled by several reports of the dangerous-sounding snake.

Pictures Credit: CEN/ Feuerwehr Mülheim an der Ruhr

Once they realised what they were dealing with, local firemen managed to drive the snake out from the hole behind the wall and capture it with a special loop wire device.

It was then put in a secure box where an expert identified it as a non-toxic king snake (Lampropeltis), which kills its prey such as lizards, mice and birds by strangling them.

It is known as a king snake because its prey also includes other snakes, including poisonous snakes, where it is mostly immune to their venom.

Once it was identified, fireman felt safe to transport it to a special enclosure run by the authorities in nearby Rheinberg.

Kerstin Kunadt said that the red snake with black markings identified as a Honduran milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis), was now being kept in an appropriate environment suitable to its natural habitat in the troubled areas of Honduras, Nicaragua and north-eastern Costa Rica.

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