Toronto police remove snake from school playground hours before classes start

A hissing surprise visited a school playground on Tuesday morning only hours before students returned from the holidays: a metre-long snake slithering around school grounds.

CBC News reported police found the snake at Port Royal Public School in Scarborough, and they said it could be a boa or a bull constrictor. The broadcaster reported police caught the snake with a pillowcase and gave it to animal services.

Const. Stephane St. George posted a lesson online for other owners of pet snakes.

The snake didn't hurt anyone, according to Global News, and it was eventually brought to Reptilia, a reptile zoo in Vaughan.

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A snake escape had tragic consequences in New Brunswick this summer when a 13-foot African rock python strangled two boys while they slept. Authorities have euthanized the snake and opened a criminal investigation into how it reached the boys to attack them, according to Reuters.

Australian police discovered a strange scene in July when a charity reported a suspected theft, but instead found that a 19-foot python had fallen through the ceiling, made a dreadful mess and urinated on the floor.