There are no doubt some great advantages to keeping an eight-foot boa constrictor as a pet – like making a pretty effective (and terrifying) watchdog, for one – but there are also some inevitable problems.
You see, being a curious creature, boas can get stuck in places they shouldn’t be. Like fireplaces.
And I, for one, definitely would not like to wrestle my eight-foot snake out of a small space.
Bill the boa constrictor recently did just that, and he caused a bit of an uproar after investigating his owner’s gas fireplace – only to get himself well and truly stuck.
Gainsborough Fire Station had to be called to the scene to help free Billy, and shared the images on Twitter early Tuesday morning.
There are some midly disturbing closeups of Billy being removed:
How the hell an eight-foot boa constrictor got stuck in that tiny fireplace is a mystery – but they got him out:
A far cry from rescuing cats from trees, the firefighters were obviously a tad nervous handling a potentially deadly animal.
A spokesperson for the fire crew told the Lincolnshire Echo: “Nobody on the crew would admit they were scared but there weren’t many volunteers to free his head or hold him!”
Yeah, I’d probably volunteer to be as far away from his head as possible, too.
But – despite all the nervousness – Billy came out unscathed, although a bit shaken up, according to Mashable.
Let’s hope for the good people of Lincolnshire he doesn’t ever get out again…
