As I was walking across the road this morning, I saw an empty bag of crisps drift across the road.
As Italo Nascimento Fernandes and his wife crossed the road near their home in Brazil earlier this week, they saw a massive anaconda crossing the road.
The couple were travelling along the highway when they saw the giant snake trying to make it to the other side (maybe to eat the chicken?). But seeing it, they knew they had to help.
Fernandes told The Dodo:
We decided to stop the car and get out. There are no signs for the cars to wait so she can cross. I have seen snakes run over on the highway before, and think such thing is a crime.
Fernandes and his partner started to signal to the other cars to slow down to avoid the reptile, though many people were quick to respond, as he said: ‘Many people quickly appeared and also helped’.
Check it out:
He added:
It’s not everyone who protects animals like that. Some people prefer to see them dead. Seeing all the people help gave a wonderful sensation.
Thanks to Fernandes and the others were travelling along the road that day, the giant anaconda made it safely to the other side.
As he said: ‘She went into the woods and left. It was beautiful’.
According too biologist Flavio Terassini, the snake was around 10 years old and was probably crossing the busy road in search of food or shelter, according to G1 Globo.
He said:
These snakes can appear in the urban area in search of food, which are small rodents, and in the city they can feed on dogs and even cats, so it’s good to be careful not to leave the trash in the yard because these animals can smell the rodents or these animals and come close to homes, especially in the rainy season.
Adult snakes such as this one can reach up to eight metres in length, and weigh around 200 kilos. They’re not venomous, but can attack if they feel threatened.
Flavio added that the passersby did a good job of stopping traffic in order to stop the snake from being run over, though they were lucky to not get too close, as it could easily have attacked.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.