In what may have felt like a scene out of the 2006 action movie “Snakes on a Plane,” a reptile was found in the cabin of a United Airlines flight.
A passenger on United Airlines flight 2038, which flew from Tampa, Florida, to Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday, told News12 New Jersey that as the plane began to taxi down the runway, passengers in business class began shrieking.
Airport wildlife operations staff met the plane when it landed, and Port Authority police officers escorted the reptile off the plane. In a statement to The Washington Post, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the animal was a garter snake, and that after it was removed from the plane it was released into the wild.
Unlike the plot of the 2006 movie, the incident did not impact any operations at the airport, and no passengers or flight staff were hurt, CNN reported. Also unlike the movie, there is no indication Samuel L. Jackson was on the plane.
Garter snakes are found in every county in Florida, and are not venomous or aggressive, The Washington Post reported.